Police seize property without charges and pocket the proceeds. There’s a bipartisan move to crack down.
When Malinda Harris went to her car after her son borrowed it in March 2015, she received a shock that changed her life. She was surprised by several police officers in Berkshire County, Mass., who ordered her to give them the vehicle — which she described as a “beautiful 2011 Infiniti G37” — and said […]
A former Marine was pulled over for following a truck too closely. Police took nearly $87,000 of his cash.
The Nevada trooper first told Stephen Lara the highway patrol was educating drivers “about violations they may not realize they’re committing,” and that he’d been pulled over for following a tanker truck too closely. Eventually the trooper admitted having an ulterior purpose: stopping the smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons and currency as they crossed the […]
Police seized $10,000 of a couple’s cash. They couldn’t get it back — until they went public.
Tonya Smith referred to June 9 as a “highway robbery.” But the traffic stop by West Virginia state troopers and seizure of thousands of dollars in cash and gift cards was lawful. Under a little-known legal tool called civil forfeiture, the government can permanently take a person’s property if an officer suspects it is connected […]
Why civil asset forfeiture simply won’t die
By Robert Gebelhoff Assistant editor and Opinions contributor July 25, 2017 at 11:04 a.m. EDT Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the White House in Washington on March 27. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) That Attorney General Jeff Sessions would resurrect a controversial federal program for civil asset forfeiture isn’t surprising. He has long been one of […]
Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 billion in cash from people not charged with a crime
The Drug Enforcement Administration takes billions of dollars in cash from people who are never charged with criminal activity, according to a report issued today by the Justice Department’s Inspector General. Since 2007, the report found, the DEA has seized more than $4 billion in cash from people suspected of involvement with the drug trade. […]
The Justice Department just shut down a huge asset forfeiture program
The Department of Justice announced this week that it’s suspending a controversial program that allows local police departments to keep a large portion of assets seized from citizens under federal law and funnel it into their own coffers. The “equitable-sharing” program gives police the option of prosecuting asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state […]
Civil Forfeiture Laws And The Continued Assault On Private Property
Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. Under civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets–all without so much as charging you with a crime. Unlike criminal forfeiture, where property […]
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