"... Over the last two decades, forfeitures have evolved into a booming business for police agencies across the country, from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to small-town sheriff’s offices. Although there is no single tally of all this activity – the information is buried in the budgets, court records and annual reports of thousands of individual agencies — the available data makes clear that billions of dollars in cash, cars, real estate and other assets are being confiscated nationwide every year via civil forfeitures. One measure is the growth of a program in which federal law enforcement officials seize property on behalf of local authorities in exchange for a share of the proceeds. In 2000, officials racked up $500 million in forfeitures. By 2012, that amount rose to $4.2 billion, an eightfold increase. ... Last year, police officials in Tenaha, Texas, agreed to various monitoring and reporting conditions after being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for stopping drivers, mostly minorities, and seizing their cash and other property. Tenaha police often did not charge the motorists with any crime but threatened them with arrest if they didn’t agree to forfeit their possessions, according to the lawsuit. In settling the case, Tenaha officials denied that the traffic stops were unconstitutional. .... “The problem is when police departments are able to seize assets in hundreds of thousands of dollars – they’re going to,” said Vanita Gupta, an attorney with the ACLU. “I worry with the Tenaha case that people will think, ‘Oh that’s just Tenaha.’” “Every police department in Texas is pocketing money from forfeiture,” she said. ..." propublica.org/article/law-to-clean-up-nuisances-costs-innocent-people-their-homes
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 19:42:43 +0000
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