DC Police Department Budgets Its Asset Forfeiture Proceeds Years In Advance

From the citizens-warned-to-convert-cash-to-unusable-bitcoins-in-case-of-PD-budget-shortf dept

Asset forfeiture may be the greatest scam perpetuated on the American people by their government -- and it's all legal. For the most part, assets seized translate directly to monetary or physical gains for the agencies doing the seizing, an act often wholly separated from any American ideals of due process.

The New York Times recently obtained recording of asset forfeiture conferences which showed prosecutors advising cops on how to best exploit these programs to obtain additional funds and goods for their respective law enforcement agencies. In short, it appears that many agencies use asset forfeiture to fill departmental shopping lists, rather than as the criminal syndicate-crippling action it was intended to be.

The Washington Post has been digging into the oft-abused programs for the last six weeks. The latest article in this series comes to similar conclusions about how the programs are viewed by law enforcement agencies.

Read More At: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141116/11094529165/dc-police-department-budgets-its-asset-forfeiture-proceeds-years-advance.shtml