That is not true. Law enforcement does not have to file charges or prove guilt to keep seized assets. You might want to look into the FAIR Act, sponsored by Rep Tim Walberg and Jamie Raskin and the cases that have driven the creation of that Act. Assets under $500k can be forfeited administratively at the federal level meaning that there is no court involvement at all. And many (most?) states do not require tracking or reporting of assets seized or how they are disposed of. It is a huge loophole and a huge problem in terms of the legitimacy of the police and courts in the USA.
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Totally untrue. There are many many documented cases that average people often who are not born in the USA that have a distrust of banks traveling with large amounts of cash (think 10-50k range) to make a legitimate purchase that have it seized. These people donāt have the money for lawyers to fight it out and the police threaten them enough that they just have to walk away.
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Here you go this recent enough for you?
Yeah when I hear the first, I dont think the second, and feds play under different rules. As for reporting, my state is absolutely required. I agree any state not required to report, yeah thatās shady.
So it sounds like there WAS recourse, which is what I said to begin with, so whatās your point here?
This is an instance that there was recourse. Only after there was so much external pressure the department caved. The point is that it never should have happened. When people say it doesnāt happen without cause this is a perfect example that it does happen without cause. You wonāt see me traveling with much cash and I sure as heck will never consent to a search without a warrant.
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This is obviously a huge tangent, but civil forfeiture is a real thing and a risk if you are driving with large quantities of cash. The Washington Post did a big series on it a few years ago, and there is legislation that has been introduced in Congress to address the problem.
Hereās the Post series, with lots of examples from multiple jurisdictions: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/?itid=lk_inline_manual_31
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Local agencies partner with the feds to seize assets all the time. It is up to 50% of some depts budgets, which is obviously a huge problem if itās happening outside the court system. Which it absolutely is. My FIL works with a farm worker charity (heās a retired attorney) and many of their clients have been outright robbed by law enforcement as they tend to save a lot of cash to wire home all at once. It would typically cost more to hire a lawyer to get the money than was taken in the first place so thatās not really recourse is it?
Clanter is correct- never drive around with cash, itās a real risk.
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