Arrests-even if innocent-add up to a million $ a year in funding for Detroit Cops

[deb]

Popping johns may clean streets, but it also makes money for cops


By Nolan Finley / The Detroit News

A hooker says she was paid $60 to jolly up Butch Hollowell in the front seat of the former state Democratic Party chair’s car near Detroit’s Palmer Park.

Sheriff Warren Evans collected $900 from the same encounter and didn’t have to take off a stitch of his clothes.

Why Hollowell would be shagging hookers in his own neighborhood is still unanswered. Why the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department is running prostitution busts in Detroit may be the better question.

The Sheriff’s Department has limited law enforcement responsibilities. Its primary duty is to operate the county lock-ups and provide support services to other county police departments. It does the prostitution detail, Evans says, at the request of Detroit police.

He says hookers and their customers are ruining communities, are a nuisance to residents and create the environment for other illegal activity. All true.

But it’s also true that every john busted in a car has to pay the county $900 to get his vehicle back. Under the civil forfeiture law, the county keeps the money even if the defendant is never convicted of a crime.

The fines are an important revenue source for the sheriff and the Detroit Police Department, which also works feverishly to sweep the streets of johns and their cars.

Evans estimates forfeiture fines bring in $1 million a year, money he says that covers the cost of the unit. He says it’s not a profit center and is having an impact on prostitution.

Defense attorneys say the motive for the cops is the same as for the prostitutes — shaking money out of the johns.

“They can grab as many as 100 cars a night,” says Dearborn lawyer Majed A. Moughni, who has unsuccessfully challenged the civil forfeiture law.

It’s such a fabulous scheme it’s hard to believe the government came up with it. Defendants who feel they were wrongly arrested have a choice: Pay $3,000 for an attorney to challenge the seizure, wait 60 days for a court hearing and risk the sort of public humiliation Hollowell is enduring. Or pay the $900, get the car back right away and hope whoever is waiting at home never finds out.

Moughni says his files are full of cases where defendants claim they were arrested for simply rolling down their car window when a police decoy knocked.

The attorney also contends some prostitutes work in cahoots with the cops, giving up their clients after they’ve been paid for their services. “It’s racketeering,” says Moughni. “It’s all about the money.”

The goal of ridding neighborhoods of illicit activities is a fine one. But ignoring civil liberties as a means of getting there is unacceptable. Grabbing a car and holding it hostage to a $900 fine — plus towing costs — trashes the concept of innocent until proven guilty.

Like nearly every defendant in his predicament, Hollowell claims he is innocent, the victim of a misunderstanding. Maybe so, maybe no.

But with so much money in play, and so few due process safeguards in place, it’s easy to see how the system could be gamed. Moughni’s advice:

“If you’re driving through Detroit and see a pretty woman on the curb, don’t stop, don’t roll down your window, don’t even wink.”

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The Detroit News. Reach him at (313) 222-2064 or nfinley@detnews.com


Deb

[mabear]

It's always about the money isn't it.

[StacysWar030]

OMG!!! Is this how they ballance our budget?!?! What a disgrace.

Stacy