Channel 2 investigation prompts proposed bills to curb problems with property seizures by police

ATLANTA — There is new action at the State Capitol following a Channel 2 Action News investigation into problems with property seizures by a metro Atlanta police department.

Lawmakers cited Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray’s reporting while rolling out the bills.

The proposed bills would not stop or limit civil asset forfeiture but would require a lot more data to be made public about the seizures and provide a path to get your car or money back if you aren’t charged or convicted of a crime.

Three bills introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives are designed to reign in problems with civil asset forfeiture that we uncovered in a Channel 2 Action News investigation last week.

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“They can’t get their property back, so that’s the concern that we have,” state Rep. Kim Schofield said.

It was three years ago that Tatiana Strong’s cargo van was seized by the City of South Fulton police. But while there’s never been a criminal conviction or even criminal charge related to the van, police never returned it.

“There was no court case. There was no charges. There was nothing but it’s gone,” Strong told Gray.

In our investigation, Channel 2 Action News also showed you how the city of South Fulton was breaking Georgia law by not reporting data each year on how many vehicles and how much money it seized.

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That data is supposed to be posted publicly online. One of the new bills would vastly expand what data police departments have to report and post. Schofield is one of the sponsors.

“It’s very basic. It’s let me find the property that you took, period. Where is it? How can I get it back?” Schofield said.

South Fulton police have called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to do a top-to-bottom investigation of their civil forfeiture program.

“Well, that’s what we’re asking the GBI to do. What I want right now is for full transparency and an independent review of each one of those files,” city of South Fulton Police Chief Keith Meadows said.

But the state lawmakers behind the legislation say there need to be better rules and more restrictions to prevent abuse of these programs.

“If you take my car and I haven’t been charged with anything, I haven’t done anything wrong, I need my car back, that’s my transportation to get back and forth to work,” state Rep. Sandra Scott said.

Right now, the bills only have Democratic sponsors, but the bills’ author told Gray she has been talking to the Republican chairman of the judiciary committee who is open to learning more about this.

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