NPR reports, "Police Can Seize And Sell Assets Even When The Owner Broke No Law"
You don't have to be convicted of a crime or even accused of committing a crime for police to seize your car, cash, or other property. Although Michigan has taken steps to limit asset forfeiture seizures, lawmakers in Lansing have largely failed to curb the practice. Several videos online are shedding some light on the controversial practice.
The practice is called civil asset forfeiture, and every year it brings cities millions of dollars in revenue, which often goes directly to the police budget. Police confiscate cars, jewelry, cash and homes they think are connected to crime. But the people these things belong to may have done nothing wrong.
In one video posted by The New York Times, Harry S. Connelly, the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., gleefully describes how the city collects these "little goodies," calling it a "gold mine."
Read the rest of this article at NPR and make sure to watch the video on The New York Times website. It will get your blood boiling.
