John Oliver did a piece the other day about an amazingly abusive police practice that amounts to nothng more than legalized theft. It is a must see, you can watch it on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/...
More on this absurd policy below the fold.
Some of the Highlights:
Police don’t have to prove you’re guilty of a crime to take your cash. Since 9/11 police have taken 2.5 Billion dollars in the course of 62,000 seizures of cash alone from people who were never charged with a crime.
You are basically guilty until you prove yourself innocent. There’s nothing you can do about it.
Most police departments can keep the money they seize, and use it for anything they want. That includes buying a frozen margarita dispenser, a Zamboni(yes…a Zamboni), kegs of beer, and bottles of Crown Royal.
In Detroit, police seized 44 cars at the Contemporary Art Institute because they were serving Alcohol at an Opening Night without a permit. The argument was that “simply driving vehicles to the location of an unlawful sale of alcohol was sufficient to seize a car.” Oliver showed actual video of the raid that ended up with every owner having to pay $900 each to get their cars out of the impound.
In Philadelphia they seized the house of the parents of a 22 year old arrested with $40 worth of drugs. In attempting to get it back they were never even allowed to see a judge, only a prosecutor. Most people simply give up, as the need to hire a lawyer to get their property back is so hard and expensive that it's not worth it.
Oliver’s piece is really amazing, as well as funny, but illustrates the absolute corruption of the system. This is the type of abuse you hardly ever hear about, but needs to be reformed immediately. It’s an absolute travesty.