The two are not mutually exclusive
Some of those stories sound a bit fishy - like the guy with over $17,500 in his car who claimed to be on his way to buy restaurant supplies (at night) and had an unspecified “police record”. Or the driver who didn’t realize he had $32,000 in cash in his car.
It sounds a little too much like those people on “Cops” who are victimized by strangers throwing drugs into their car when they drive in dodgy neighborhoods.
This is why every interaction with the police needs to be recorded. Watched cops are behaved cops.
Fair enough. I just saw the story right after reading this thread and linked it. The bigger point is the cops can seize your money, Rx drugs, or other property and the burden is on you to prove they’re “innocent”.
Does anyone have any cites on what percentage of police departments’ budgets come from seizures?
Depends on the department. The (now defunct) town of Hampton, Florida funded its entire government with traffic ticket revenue and seizures.
According to Wikipedia, Hampton isn’t defunct as a municipality, but it agreed to rescind its annexation of the stretch of highway where it had set up its speed trap.
Huh. I was under the impression that the state legislature had already revoked the city charter but apparently they did receive a last-minute reprieve.
And state laws vary widely. Here in NJ any forfeitures have to go through a forfeiture hearing. If it can’t be proven that the assets were a direct result of criminal activity or used directly in the commission of a crime the property is returned. Also if there is any question as to the ownership of the property. For instance if a car is under someone else’s name or even a lease in the suspect’s name the car can not be seized unless under extraordinary circumstances (that I have never personally seen).