Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 25-21,303

Current with changes through the 2024 First Special Legislative Session

Section 25-21,303 - Property used in commission of certain crimes; forfeiture; law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney; report to Auditor of Public Accounts; contents; report to Legislature

(1) For all money, securities, negotiable instruments, firearms, conveyances, or real estate seized pursuant to section 25-21,302, the appropriate law enforcement agency or, as provided in subsection (5) of this section, the prosecuting attorney shall provide a written report of the forfeiture to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The report shall include:

(a) The date of the seizure;

(b) The type of property seized, such as a vehicle, currency, or a firearm;

(c) A description of the property seized, including, if applicable, the make, model, year, and serial number of the property seized;

(d) The street name and traffic direction where the seizure occurred, such as eastbound, westbound, southbound, or northbound;

(e) The crime for which the suspect was charged;

(f) The disposition of the property seized through the forfeiture process, such as the property was returned to the suspect, returned to a third-party owner, sold, destroyed, or retained by law enforcement;

(g) The basis for disposition of the seized property, such as the suspect was found not guilty, agreement for disposition, criminal forfeiture, or civil forfeiture;

(h) The value of the property forfeited;

(i) If the seizure resulted from a motor vehicle stop, (i) whether a warning or citation was issued, an arrest was made, or a search was conducted and (ii) the characteristics of the race or ethnicity of the suspect. The identification of such characteristics shall be based on the observation and perception of the law enforcement officer responsible for reporting the motor vehicle stop. The information shall not be required to be provided by the suspect; and

(j) Any additional information the Nebraska State Patrol, a county sheriff, any city or village police department, or any other law enforcement agency in this state, as the case may be, deems appropriate.

(2) The appropriate law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney shall report to the Auditor of Public Accounts all instances in which property seized for forfeiture was returned to its owner either because the forfeiture was not pursued or for any other reason.

(3) Reports shall be made on an annual basis in a manner prescribed by the Auditor of Public Accounts. The Auditor of Public Accounts shall submit a report to the Legislature on the nature and extent of such seizures on an annual basis. Such report shall be submitted electronically.

(4) For forfeitures resulting from the activities of multijurisdictional law enforcement entities, a law enforcement entity other than a Nebraska law enforcement entity shall, on its own initiative, report the information required by this section.

(5) The prosecuting attorney is not required to report information required by this section unless he or she has been notified by the Auditor of Public Accounts that the appropriate law enforcement agency has not reported the information required by this section.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 25-21,303

Laws 2016, LB 1106, § 2.

Added by Laws 2016, LB 1106,§ 2, eff. 7/21/2016.