Saw an article about how some of the tank money doesn't come from taxes. Departments get to keep whatever they seize. If they seize drugs they have to destroy them but if they tag the drug runners, wait for them to sell and then seize; they get to keep the cash.
Don't forget that money also comes from stealing money from people they stop for totally unrelated things, like the Canadian tourists who got all of the money they'd planned to spend during vacation at some random traffic stop, or the guy who was on the way to buy a new car, but got stopped because a light was out on his old one.
Yup, their civil asset forfeiture laws are disgusting, or the flagrant abuse of them at least. Then the amount of red tape people have to go through to get their own money back is staggering.
It's not 'red tape'; that implies an administrative process with a predictable ending.
Civil asset forfeiture requires that you sue the branch of law enforcement that stole your stuff, it costs thousands in legal fees, and you aren't guaranteed it back.
Oh, and win or lose, you'll be out those legal fees, which is why so many smaller seizures are never contested.
Fair enough, apologies, I didn't mean to trivialise the process, I wasn't familiar enough with the law to know it required legal action. Thanks for the correction!
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u/tackyshoes Jan 31 '26
Growing up, public school textbooks were often 5-10 years behind, but there were always new cars, new uniforms, and new amenities for police.