As a result of concluding a public contract between the public Association Bronx Defenders and police of new York law enforcement agencies released information about unclaimed after the confiscation of the funds. The data relate to the period from July 2016 to June 2017. According to preliminary estimates, it is about $6.3 million.
Bronx Defenders, providing legal assistance to new Yorkers, already more than 2 years through the court requires from the NYPD to disclose the above information. The lawyers claim that the leadership of the police, hiding this data violates the law on free access to information. In the end, law enforcement went on a compromise and concluded with the organization of the agreement by providing a report for a certain period of its activity.
According to representatives of the NYPD, their employees had to consider more than 160 thousand of documents which confirmed the confiscation of property and money between summer 2016 and 2017. However, they noted that she experienced great difficulties, counting the exact cost of the seized property.
«The system is designed for efficient management of the property, which falls into the possession of the NYPD through the withdrawal and other methods not to report on information requests», — said the representative of the legal Department of the NYPD.
The bulk of the funds were withdrawn in process of investigation of crimes and were either not further demand by the owners or was the physical evidence. The police deny any violations and abuses in relation to the seized items.
At the same time, some members of the Bronx Defenders admit the possibility of using these funds in the police personal purposes. The main argument advocating in favor of this version, is supposedly the NYPD’s reluctance to disclose this kind of information.
As shown by the preliminary analysis of public organizations, the police received the Deposit of more than $6.3 million during the specified report period. While at the Bronx Defenders wondering why the owners of these funds was not addressed in the NYPD for return of property and funds.
