Research Update

I've fully compiled the available data on equitable sharing payments from the Department of Justice's website. The dataset includes more than 34,000 payments made to state and local law enforcement agencies between 2000 and 2012. I've begun cleaning up and verifying the data, making sure it was all copied correctly. Due to differences in rounding, some of the totals in the data set are different than the totals listed on the DOJ site, so I've begun the process of double checking the totals to make sure nothing was copied incorrectly. I've also begun coding agency locations, cleaning up typos from the source data, and consolidating cases where the same agency appears under multiple names. Here are a few quick takeaways from first glances at the data.

• The DOJ made more than $4 billion in equitable sharing payments between 2000 and 2012.
• California has by far been the largest recipient of equitable sharing revenue, recording more than $600 million dollars in the time period covered, nearly 15% of the total. Over that time period payments exploded from $29 million in fiscal year 2000 to over $82 million in 2012, an increase of more than 181%.
• The top 10 recipient states are California, New York, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and Michigan, raking in a combined $2.6 billion.
• The largest payments to individual departments were paid out to the agencies in Virginia and West Virginia, which was revenue from a federal settlement with Purdue Pharmaceuticals regarding their marketing and sale of oxycontin. 
• There are a number of puzzlingly small amounts paid out, which are particularly confusing given the stated requirements for a case to be federally adoped. For exampe, Marion Police Department in Indiana received a payment of $4 from sales proceeds. In fact, there were 151 equitable sharing payments made that totaled less than $100 dollars, begging the questions how and what kind of seizures and forfeitures taken on by federal agencies would result in such small pay outs.

All told, I have barely scratched the surface of this massive pile of data and will be periodically updating the site with observations as I make my way through the correction and clean up process. Stay tuned for some big news coming up as I seek to expand the scope of my research and build a proper website and develop a real online presence.