View Point

Friday, January 8, 1999

Forfeiture law
is valuable weapon
in drug battle

If businesses knowingly provide
a safe haven for drug activities,
they will be held accountable

By Steven S. Alm

Ice and crack cocaine are two of the most destructive and addictive drugs available today. They are destroying lives and costing users, their families and society pain, misery and millions of dollars a year.

One of law enforcement's biggest concerns is when businesses allow blatant drug trafficking to take place on their premises. Drug dealers and other criminals with a secure base of operations -- such as a hotel, bar or amusement facility -- are much more effective and thus more of a threat to the community than a drug dealer or other criminal who is forced to operate out of a car, on the street or otherwise out in the open.

Therefore, I read the Star-Bulletin's Dec. 24 editorial about the latest forfeiture lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office with great interest. The editorial made it appear that a business can get forfeited based on drug deals taking place on the sidewalk outside of the business. That is certainly not the case.

Property can be forfeited that was either purchased with the proceeds of criminal activity or, as is currently being alleged, when it is being used to facilitate the criminal activity.

In order to successfully forfeit a piece of property that is facilitating criminal activity, such as drug distribution, the federal government must show two things at trial:

That the owners of the property were aware that the illegal activity taking place on their property.

That they failed to take reasonable steps to stop the illegal activity. What is reasonable is going to depend on the facts and circumstances of each case.

In the two cases of this type that we've done -- the Golden Star/Escalator Bar in Chinatown and the Kilauea Hotel in Hilo -- we were able to show first that the owners knew of the illegal activity.

In addition to the media coverage, arrests and search warrants that were done on the property, the owners were given oral and written notices of the illegal activity and warned of the consequences for failing to take action.

In both cases, the owners also failed to take reasonable steps to stop the blatant drug use and dealing.

There were many possible solutions available to them, the most obvious of which was to simply evict the problem tenants and employ property managers with instructions not to rent to drug users and dealers, or those who condoned either. (Other legitimate property owners and managers do this all the time, in Chinatown, Hilo and elsewhere throughout the state.)

But obvious solutions cost money -- lost rent and lost profits. The owners of the Golden Star and Kilauea Hotel and, we are alleging, the owners of the building housing Swing Video, Dave's Amusement and Amy's Place, took no real steps to stop the blatant drug activities. Instead, they allowed them to continue without interruption.

Are the building owners involved in the drug business? We don't believe so. If we did, they would have been so charged. The fact that they are not charged with a crime means that they are not faced with the possibility of going to prison.

That doesn't mean, however, that they are immune from monetary or other civil sanction. This is no different from other citizens regularly being held accountable in various civil judicial actions. This could include, for example, a personal injury claim after an auto accident, a claim of medical malpractice or one involving environmental pollution.

And that is only right. Drug dealing contributes to the disorder and destruction of a community. Giving drug dealers a secure, hidden place to operate is wrong. It abdicates a property owner's responsibility to his or her neighbors and to the community. It contributes to the degradation of both.

Last year, in five languages, we surveyed the residents of Chinatown and Kalihi-Palama. The residents said drugs and drug dealers were the single biggest problem in their community.

We have started an aggressive campaign to go after the street-level crack and ice dealers in these communities and to hold them accountable in federal court. If businesses knowingly provide safe haven for these activities, they will be held accountable as well.

We refuse to surrender any part of our city to crime and criminals. With the continued cooperation of residents and merchants, I am confident we can make Kalihi-Palama/Chinatown a better, safer place to live, work and raise our children.

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Steven S. Alm is U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii.