The Ridgeland Police Department’s new fitness facility is expected to be complete next month.
The facility was largely funded by a Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation grant. However, the department was recently given the go-ahead to use funds from its seizure and forfeiture account to supplement the grant. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asset forfeiture is a tool used by law enforcement agencies against criminals and criminal organizations to deprive them of their ill-gotten gains through seizure of those assets.
Funds from asset forfeiture, by law, can be used by the department however it sees fit, as long as they are spent on law enforcement-related projects.
Ridgeland Police Chief John Neal said the department could receive anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 in forfeiture funds each year. This money comes from assets seized from convicted narcotics traffickers by officers assigned to drug task forces. The funds are divided among each of the law enforcement agencies involved only if the suspects are convicted following the judicial process.
“They are afforded due process. The court has to take its action first,” Neal said.
However, if they are convicted, the assets are forfeited, and the funds designated for the Ridgeland Police Department are transferred to their forfeiture and seizure account.
Neal said these funds can be used by the police department for anything – including building repairs, upgrades or equipment – except salaries.
The department tapped into forfeiture and seizure funds to purchase machine weights and equipment for the fitness center.
“The original project had a total of $77,000 plus in funds designated to construct and equip the building as best we could,” Neal said. “In working with the design and outfitting the building, we pulled an additional $30,000 in forfeiture and seizure funds to purchase equipment for the building.”
Neal said the project is slated to be complete within the next month.
“We anticipate final inspections of the building and ready for use within the next month as the general contractor completes punch list items with the sub-contractors,” Neal said.
In the past, funds from forfeited assets have been used in the city of Ridgeland to upgrade the police department’s radio system, purchase new portable radios for officers’ cars and purchase new vehicles, among other projects.
