MERCER COUNTY -- Hamilton Police at the end of last year were vexed by a spate of graffiti tagging that blighted various spots throughout town, causing thousands in damage, authorities said.

When officers finally caught up with a pair of teens responsible, they didn’t just charge them with a crime. They also seized their car, determining that it was used in the commission of a felony and making it a prime target for a growing law enforcement practice called “Civil Forfeiture.”

“The point of using forfeiture is that it’s a law enforcement tool for deterrence," Sean D. McMurtry, head of the Prosecutor’s Office Forfeiture Unit, said in an interview last week. “We’re not out to make money on this.’’

Once used mainly to take cash made from illegal drug sales from busted dealers, the practice is getting wider play in police departments across the country, including in Mercer County, where car seizures alone have risen 38 percent since 2007.

McMurtry is an expert on the topic and was the featured speaker in a law enforcement training video made three years ago for Garden State Continuing Legal Education, a Lawrence-based law enforcement training company.

“One of the first things I did was try and spread the gospel that you can use forfeiture as a crime fighting tool and a good deterrent in all kinds of crimes,” McMurtry, explains on the video.

The 1990 Buick Park Avenue taken from the Hamilton teens was one of 230 cars seized in Mercer County last year. In 2007, there were 88 cars seized, according to annual reports of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Under New Jersey’s civil forfeiture law, property can be taken by law enforcement if police determine that it was used in the commission of a crime – such as in the Hamilton case – or if it was purchased with the proceeds of a crime. But most disturbing to critics and civil libertarians, the move to take property sometimes can be done without criminal charges being filed.

“In fact, we don’t even have to have to charge anyone at all,” McMurtry said on the training video.

McMurtry detailed a case where a “high-end’’ car was seized from someone based on a hunch that it was bought with money from illegal drug sales. Without ever filing a criminal charge, police seized the car and McMurtry filed a civil suit alleging the car was bought in the process of laundering drug money, an indictable offense.

“We took a vehicle that we knew was purchased from the proceeds of criminal activity, through drug money,’’ McMurtry said on the video. “The way that the transaction to buy that car, this high-end car, was structured, to me, constituted money laundering.’’

The seizure was upheld in court. The car was forfeited. No criminal complaint was ever brought.

“So we did win on that,’’ McMurtry said on the video.

McMurtry said that the money laundering charge is the most useful charges to bring in a civil forfeiture action. He explains using another scenario:

“If a State Trooper pulls over a car, which is found to have a large amount of cash in it, but no one in the car will say where the money came from or where they were going with it, that’s where the money laundering statute comes in,” he said on the video. “We allege money laundering, which is an indictable offense, and we can go after the money that way.’’

Often, the action will never be contested.

“If they really want to fight this they have to answer interrogatories and go through depositions,” he said. “And they don’t want to do that.’’

Slide taken from a presentation by Sean D. McMurtry, head of the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office Forfeiture Unit, explaining how civil forfeiture works. (Video courtesy of Garden State Continuing Legal Education)

That’s part of the problem, critics say.

“The laws are very pro-state,’’ said Trenton-based defense attorney John Hartmann. “It’s very difficult to win at these things.’’

Under civil forfeiture laws, the state merely has to allege an indictable offense and its up to the property owner to prove innocence. The burden of proof is also lower. In criminal court, prosecutors have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil cases, the state only has to prove a preponderance of evidence.

“Prosecutors can file these things on a mere allegation,’’ said Scott Bullock, attorney with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based nonprofit working against civil forfeiture laws. “The burden on the government is very little. They don’t need to have any solid evidence of any wrongdoing.’’

And, unlike criminal proceedings, the defendant is not guaranteed a lawyer if they cannot afford one. Any representation has to be paid for by the accused, which is why so many of the cases are settled out of court, Bullock said.

“Most property owners are forced into settling knowing to it’s going to take a long time to get property back, and they can pretty quickly exceed value of the property just to settle a case,’’ he said.

The majority of Mercer County car seizure cases are settled before they reach a courtroom. Of the 230 cars seized last year, 60 were actually forfeited. County government took several and others were given to municipal police departments for use as undercover vehicles, according to the office’s annual report.

The Buick used by the teenage spray-painters, for instance, was not among those McMurtry went after in court. The mother of one of the teens called him, and the two struck a deal to get the car back: $500 plus the towing and storage costs, he said.

Slide used at a presentation given by Sean D. McMurtry, head of the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office Forfeiture Unit, in a talk given about civil forfeiture.

“That’s a gift,’’ Hartmann said. “I’ve found that the prosecutor is very reasonable most of the time. He could have kept the car under the law.’’

While cars and cash are the biggest draw in Mercer County’s forfeiture effort, a wide range of items also have been seized in the past five years.

Computers, cell phones and jewelry are among the items taken by police in various arrests, according to a review of quarterly reports from the Prosecutor’s office.

Other items include “Asian-style folding partitions” and a sofa that were taken from a 2012 prostitution bust. A “thematic dictionary” was taken in another prostitution arrest later that year. Other items include an “X Box’’ system, a nail gun and a compressor.

Flat-screen TVs are a frequent item in the seizure reports. When forfeited, they are given to the police departments that seized them for use in 911 call centers or as video monitors, McMurtry said.

“Every flat screen we’ve taken has been put to use in a police headquarters or in a training room,’’ McMurtry said.

The property that is not used by law enforcement is sold at a public auction. The money is then split between the police department where the property was seized and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, McMurtry said.

Last year, the county made $440,832.53 from the sale of seized property, giving $234,604.57 to local municipalities, according to the annual reports.

Bullock calls this the ‘profit motive’ for budget-strapped law enforcement agencies fueling the rise of forfeiture use.

“If the concern is about the fair and impartial administration of justice, you don’t need the profit incentive behind it,’’ Bullock said. “That’s the reason behind some of the abuses we’re seeing.’’

McMurtry said the money helps offset the cost of training or equipment for police departments in the county, but by law it cannot pay salaries or be used in a general fund.

For instance, forfeiture money bought 600 kits of the heroin overdose antidote naloxone, better known by the trade name Narcan, which were distributed to all police departments in the county in October, McMurtry said.

McMurtry has repeatedly denied that profit is behind the use of civil forfeiture, saying the driving force is crime deterrence.

“No department is getting a windfall from forfeiture,’’ he said.

Hartmann acknowledged that the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office is “just going by the law.”

But for Bullock, the law is the problem.

“It’s just not a power that should exist in America,’’ he said.

Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.