In North Carolina, as in many of the other states, it's difficult to determine how much money actually went to education, because there is no statewide accounting. Michael Crowell, an attorney who works for the state board of education, said he didn't know about the education drain until recently, but now he plans to begin reviewing legal remedies to get forfeiture proceeds to schools. Wisconsin officials also didn't know police were handing off seizures. But Wisconsin law enforcement officials freely admit they hand off seizures to federal agencies so they can get the money back. In Nebraska, voters changed the constitution in the 1980s to let police have half the forfeiture money, which previously had all gone to education.
Legislators say the change came at the request of law enforcement.
But now police in Nebraska say they need all the money. And for several years, they have been turning the majority of seizures over to a federal agency rather than filing under state law. Police in Missouri also use the federal hand-off to keep money instead of sending it to schools. But in 1988, state Sen. Lloyd Jackson, then the Judiciary Committee chairman, co-sponsored a bill that said forfeitures under the state forfeiture act aren't the same as those in the state constitution. Other laws were passed directing forfeiture proceeds to a special law enforcement fund.