The Metro Gang Strike Force is about to have a going-out-of-business sale. And it's hiring a private detective, at $25 an hour, to help figure out everything it seized.
Shut down in July over allegations of misconduct by its officers, the force still has equipment at its New Brighton headquarters ranging from devices that can download cell phone data to night-vision rifle scopes to a beat-up surveillance van. It also has an unknown number of unclaimed vehicles it seized in storage, some of which the Minnesota Legislative Auditor has concluded were improperly forfeited.
The advisory board that oversaw the Strike Force, which is the subject of an FBI investigation, firmed up plans Wednesday to auction off equipment and take other steps to close out its work.
With no officers on its payroll anymore, the Strike Force board has hired a private detective -- retired South St. Paul officer David Vujovich -- to itemize seized vehicles, which sit in a storage lot. He's also been asked to track down case files as individuals seek to reclaim seized funds or property, said Manila (Bud) Shaver, the board chair. The League of Minnesota Cities, the force's insurance agency, has agreed to reimburse the board for Vujovich's services, said Kori Land, the Strike Force attorney.
It's not known how many unclaimed vehicles are in storage. The Minnesota Legislative Auditor concluded in a report in May that many were improperly forfeited.
Status of seized vehicles
Jeri Boisvert, executive director of the state's Office of Justice Programs, which once oversaw state grants to the Strike Force, wrote to Shaver last month that many seized vehicles have been stored at Twin Cities Transport for "significant" periods of time.
"In many cases it is difficult to discern the evidence or forfeiture status of the vehicles," she wrote. "It has also been next to impossible to determine how vehicles were treated when they were no longer needed or were required to be returned to owners."
