The Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program allows local police departments to keep 80% of the stuff seized during drug raids and other investigations. While it sounds unbelievable, police can seize your assets even if you're never convicted of a crime as long as cops believe you obtained the property illegally.
You can go to court to get it back, but that's a long and expensive process that's just not realistic for a lot of people.
Meanwhile, police departments can use the money to boost their budgets. The article in the Post suggests that much of this money doesn't go to practical crime-fighting gear. In some departments civil forfeiture cash has paid for military-grade equipment that might be more suitable for a war zone than a US city or town.
Then there the more frivolous things civil forfeiture cash buys, like a $637 coffee maker for cops in Amarillo, Texas and $5,300 worth of “challenge coin” medallions in Brunswick County, North Carolina.
Perhaps the oddest purchase was $225 spent on a clown in Reminderville, Ohio meant to improve relations between the community and police. Here's how Chief Jeff Buck defended that purchase to the Post: “The money I spent on Sparkles the Clown is a very, very minute portion of the forfeited money that I spend in fighting the war on drugs.”
The Washington Post examined 43,000 reports on asset seizures dating back to 2008, which reported $2.5 billion in spending from these seizures. According to the Post's analysis, 81% of that spending came from seizures in which the property or cash owners were never indicted.
There have been 61,998 cash seizures on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants or indictments and processed through the Equitable Sharing Program, according to an analysis of Justice data obtained by The Post. One task force used the money for a subscription to High Times, a magazine for marijuana enthusiasts, at $29.99 for a year.
Scores of departments spent money on vehicles. Many of them were typical police cruisers, but dozens were new and used sports and luxury cars, including at least 15 Mercedes, a dozen Mustangs, a handful of BMWs and two Corvettes.
A 16 minute funny, but informative video from John Oliver:
That would be unconsitutional, they should go to court for it tbh
they tend to be poor people
Quote:
In many cases, civil forfeiture affects poor minorities who have little recourse.
and the court cases become _____ State vs. Pile of Cash or _______ Town vs. Seized Car, instead of actual people.
Quote:
The New Yorker profiled one elderly West Philadelphia couple, Mary and Leon Adams, whose home was seized after their son allegedly sold $20 worth of pot on their porch. They were never even charged with a crime.
