# Is police in the USA seizing money for no reason and keeping it really a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539 "2025-04-02T20:07:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/1 "2025-04-02T20:07:59Z")
This may well fit better in the Pit, as the behaviour described is so nasty, but for a start I’ll put it in MPSIMS. I have been reading repeatedly about the powers of the US police to seize assets from people they stop, for instance during traffic controls, but also on the street. They just seem to take the money and keep it. The excuse is that it might be money gathered from illegal activities, so they can take it. Is this true? Frequent? Has it happened to anyone here? Here is an article from a Canadian source warning about this practice, they quote “61,998 cash seizures on roadways and elsewhere without use of search warrants”: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/american-shakedown-police-won-t-charge-you-but-they-ll-grab-your-money-1.2760736](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/american-shakedown-police-won-t-charge-you-but-they-ll-grab-your-money-1.2760736) From the article: > The Washington Post this week reported that in the past 13 years, there have been 61,998 cash seizures on roadways and elsewhere without use of search warrants. > > The total haul: $2.5 billion, divided pretty much equally between the U.S. government and state and local authorities (hence the Kafkaesque “equitable sharing” euphemism). ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/2 "2025-04-02T20:18:24Z")
Yes, it is a real thing. To read about, the search terms are “civil asset forfeiture” and “criminal asset forfeiture”. The logic is an initially sounding very reasonable, “don’t let criminals use money they obtained through criminal means.” What happens though is mere accusation of a crime is enough to seize cash or other assets. In many cases the asset (money, car, etc.) is the what is accused of a crime, so you’re free to go, just not with your $10,000. ETA: Oops, I’d linked to a John Oliver episode from 2014, not a new one. and I can’t link to youtube again in an edit. A search for “John Oliver civil asset forfeiture” will turn up several youtube results. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/3 "2025-04-02T20:19:24Z")
The term in ‘civil forfeiture’ and it’s real. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/4 "2025-04-02T20:33:34Z")
A particularly egregious example. [https://thehill.com/opinion/5188501-civil-forfeiture-fair-act/](https://thehill.com/opinion/5188501-civil-forfeiture-fair-act/) Briefly: Marine retires, has life savings in cash(almost 90K) with paycheck stubs and withdrawal receipts, gets pulled over and the police seize his savings. He did get his money back months later. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/5 "2025-04-02T21:50:49Z")
IMO, once in our history is far too often. But across the totality of the USA, up until now it’s really pretty rare. Unfortunately, I fully expect the newly emboldened police in our shiny new police state to begin doing this on a widespread basis. The case law was already on their side, and once nobody in the government or judiciary is willing to restrain them, it’ll be rapidly normalized. IOW > Nice car you have there, “sir”. Sure be a shame if I happened to take it. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/6 "2025-04-02T21:59:18Z")
So it has not happened to anyone on the board yet? Good! OK, the US is a big country, so 61,998 (curiously precise number, BTW) in 13 years is 13 cases a day. Is that much? Is there perhaps underreporting? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/7 "2025-04-02T22:00:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IMO, once in our history is far too often. But across the totality of the USA, up until now it’s really pretty rare. What is your definition of “rare?” Stats say civil asset forfeiture is pulling down somewhere around $3.5 billion/year. - [Epoch Times: Civil forfeiture: How the Government makes billions by taking Americans’ private property](https://walberg.house.gov/media/in-the-news/epoch-times-civil-forfeiture-how-government-makes-billions-taking-americans) - [New Report Finds Civil Forfeiture Rakes in Billions Each Year, Does Not Fight Crime](https://ij.org/press-release/new-report-finds-civil-forfeiture-rakes-in-billions-each-year-does-not-fight-crime-2/) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/8 "2025-04-02T22:00:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IMO, once in our history is far too often. But across the totality of the USA, up until now it’s really pretty rare. How do you define rare? From Wikipedia Although there are accessible statistics of seizures at the federal level, it often happens that the totals of forfeitures from both criminals and innocent owners are combined; for example, one report was that in 2010, government seized $2.5 billion in assets from criminals and innocent owners by forfeiture methods,[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States#cite_note-twsWSJ5-15) and the totals of assets seized incorrectly from innocent owners was not separated statistically. Further, since the United States is a [federal republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism) with governments at both the national and state level, there are civil forfeiture seizures at the state level, which are not tracked and recorded in any central database,[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States#cite_note-twsNPR23-11) which make it difficult to make assessments, since state laws and procedures vary widely. According to _[The Washington Post](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post)_, federal asset forfeiture in 2014 accounted for over $5 billion going into Justice and Treasury Department coffers, while in comparison, official statistics show that the amount stolen from citizens by burglars during that same year was a mere $3.5 billion.[[33]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States#cite_note-twsWashPost7-33) > **[Civil forfeiture in the United States | History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States#History)** > > Civil forfeiture in the United States has a history dating back several hundred years, with roots in British maritime law. In the mid-1600s, when what would become the United States was a British colony, the British Navigation Acts were enacted. These laws required ships importing or exporting goods from British ports to fly the British flag; ships that failed to do this could be seized regardless of whether the ship's owner was guilty of any wrongdoing. It was easier to seize a vessel than tr Du... ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/9 "2025-04-02T22:10:37Z")
That’s interesting! From your link: > After the [American Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution), the early [Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress) wrote forfeiture laws based on British maritime law to help federal tax collectors collect [customs duties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff), which financed most of the expenses of the federal government in the early days of the Republic. Those are the very tariffs your president has wet dreams about! The ones he imposed today, I can’t get them out of my mind, sorry for the hijack. So $5 billion a year, according to your numbers? That is $15 per capita. And just over $10 for burglaries. Who would have thought that the USA were such a safe country? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/10 "2025-04-02T22:12:24Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > … So $5 billion a year, according to your numbers? That $5b is just money that ends up in federal coffers. There does not seem to be any tracking of state seizures that stay at the state level. The Post did some reporting on this a while back. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/?hpid=z1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/?hpid=z1) [https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/asset-seizures-fuel-police-spending/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/asset-seizures-fuel-police-spending/) [https://ij.org/press-release/bad-apples-or-bad-laws-release-9-8-2014/](https://ij.org/press-release/bad-apples-or-bad-laws-release-9-8-2014/) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/11 "2025-04-02T22:31:50Z")
From your first link: > Hain’s book calls for “turning our police forces into present-day Robin Hoods.” That is spin I did not expect. Admirable chutzpah. Not everybody is capable of that. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/12 "2025-04-02T22:33:00Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > That is spin I did not expect. Admirable chutzpah. Not everybody is capable of that. It’s not like America was a very nice place before Trump. It’s always been repressive-curious. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/13 "2025-04-02T22:40:46Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > The excuse is that it might be money gathered from illegal activities, so they can take it. Is this true? Watch any documentary program which follows police around (e.g.: “On Patrol: Live” or “Police 24/7”) often enough and you’ll eventually see this happening. Particularly when there is a large supply of drugs and a large amount of cash in the same vehicle: the former heavily implying that the latter was obtained via illegal sales. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/14 "2025-04-02T22:42:19Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > So it has not happened to anyone on the board yet? Good! OK, the US is a big country, so 61,998 (curiously precise number, BTW) in 13 years is 13 cases a day. Is that much? Is there perhaps underreporting? I have no specific knowledge besides the various sites here, plus some of my own reading. The USA is a big place. 380 million people live here. We have tens of thousands of courtrooms working every day. 13 cases per day is homeopathic levels of dilution. As to comments by others: As I said, the right answer is zero. The entire concept is an outrage. Just one more way the USA has been turning into a police state since I was a child. OTOH, $3.5B is about 10 dollars per American per year. I spend about that much on postage stamps. > [@madmonk28](#): > > > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > > > That is spin I did not expect. Admirable chutzpah. Not everybody is capable of that. > > It’s not like America was a very nice place before Trump. It’s always been repressive-curious. This. It is doctrinal evil. But it is predictable doctrinal evil. And is presently evil at pinprick levels statistically speaking. I seriously fear that it will become very very common very soon. To lots of cheering by the usual suspects until their own pickup truck is seized. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/15 "2025-04-02T22:43:51Z")
Just for the record, no, the police don’t seize money for no reason. They absolutely have a reason to seize the money. The reason is that they like money. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/16 "2025-04-02T22:45:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, $3.5B is about 10 dollars per American per year. I spend about that much on postage stamps. That is just federal, not state and we all know that the burden is not shared evenly across America. I wonder who suffers this kind of injustice the most in America? I’m guessing not the cul-de-sac crowd. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/17 "2025-04-02T22:49:24Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > > Hain’s book calls for “turning our police forces into present-day Robin Hoods.” > > That is spin I did not expect. Admirable chutzpah. Not everybody is capable of that. Wow, usually I see it referred to as modern day highway robbery. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, $3.5B is about 10 dollars per American per year. I spend about that much on postage stamps. Except it’s not evenly distributed, which is the problem. I’d pay $10/year to end police theft, but I don’t get that choice, instead I have a non-zero probability of losing any cash I’m carrying at any random moment. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/18 "2025-04-02T22:53:25Z")
Not just cash. They can decide they like your car and take that for themselves. I’ve also heard of them using it to keep lawyers from taking cases, threatening to take the lawyers house or whatever as being the “proceeds of criminal activity” if the lawyer takes the money of the accused. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/19 "2025-04-02T22:59:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They can decide they like your car and take that for themselves. > **[Seized Chevrolet Camaro Gets New Life as Michigan Police Patrol Car](https://autos.yahoo.com/seized-chevrolet-camaro-gets-life-190017222.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAG61O--qh8e7IG2KKhi7w8cYvuYFpRGrQGknI2YcIdAnZBvH0grSGhMGZS-4unLfZX_sHNVlmJAJbco-1NIvGlyiLqt0WpW3lJnI92tnXhQy7o3GkOmCXaOhSj9Klt7Jlxu9qq6-Ej2tG80HBHSgRIGZHaE49Dx20y4hoqUB8-zf)** > > A seized 1981 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, once owned by drug dealers, has been transformed into a patrol car. And not just in the United States. > **[Czech police turn seized Ferrari into patrol car](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/25/czech-police-turn-seized-ferrari-into-patrol-car)** > > The Ferrari 458 Italia is capable of chasing down joyriders at speeds of up to 200mph ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539/20 "2025-04-02T23:28:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, $3.5B is about 10 dollars per American per year. I spend about that much on postage stamps. First, the number is something closer to 260 million for people over 18 (I assume we can ignore kindergarten kids for this). Second, this is not a tax evenly spread across all citizens. Some much smaller number of people will be affected. Best I could find is around 20 million traffic stops per year in the US. That’s now $175/person. You get pulled over, you hand the cops $175 even if you actually did nothing wrong…above and beyond whatever ticket you might get. Just a fee for being pulled over. Where do you draw the line? You said never (which I agree with). What I do not agree with is pretending it really isn’t all that bad overall. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-police-in-the-usa-seizing-money-for-no-reason-and-keeping-it-really-a-thing/1016539.md?page=2)