Problems with ‘Merica -Robbery in Blue

When one thinks of a robber, they usually see a devious man running from a brave police man attempting to stop him, with the police eventually catching and hounding the thief to jail. However, increasing cases show that the thief and the police man are the same.

Legally speaking, that is known as Civil Asset Forfeiture, or Civil Seizure. This is when “law enforcement officers take assets from persons suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without charging the owners with wrongdoing”. So imagine a fancy car you own, and one day police turn up and take the car without charging you with a crime just because they have a “hunch” that you may have illegal property. They take the car, and don’t give you anything. Just like that, a beautiful car gone, with its worth completely belonging to the police.

Now, one has to ask why this is allowed, because it's basically nothing more than legalized robbery. This is linked back to the British Navigation Acts in the 1600s. Ships trading with the colonies had to fly the British flag, and ships that did not pass that test were seized. The logic was that it is easier to take the ships with bad cargo instead of going and searching for the original owner. This was one of many policies that angered the colonists, who were maddened by the searches of their ships for illicit goods. Civil Asset Forfeiture came back during the 1920s to take illegally transported alcohol, but ended soon after.

It was in the ‘80s when Civil Asset Forfeiture became substantial. The law was used to deprive organized drug cartels of their resources as cartels preferred cash as payment, which could be seized.

The intention of this law was good, however now some greedy police have started to take advantage of this law and seize property without any actual validation. For example, take the case of Russ Caswell, whose motel was seized by the Tewksbury Massachusetts police department. Their explanation was that there was something shady going on due to 15 arrests in the premises of the motel. That would be valid, except it was out of 14 years, with 200 thousand rooms rented during that period. When this was taken up by the court in 2013, the federal judge in Boston ruled in favor of the Caswells. While this story had a happy ending, others do not and people lose their property to the police every year.

One police officer in Nevada took $50,000 from a casino winner, and threatened to seize the car as well as the money if the victim spoke out about it. Then that same officer took $2,400 from a different victim. Both cases were settled and the two men got their money back, but it showed how easy it is to take property simply with the authority of the police badge.

Due to its good intentions, the law in its essence should not be completely removed as it can be useful to combat organized crime, but the innocent people that get unfairly swindled due to it highlight the injustices this law can permit. Revisions and restrictions need to be placed on Civil Asset Forfeiture to stop cases like Casswell and others from happening again.

http://ij.org/case/massachusetts-civil-forfeiture/

https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-police-practices/asset-forfeiture-abuse

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/30/the-7-most-egregious-examples-of-civil-asset-forfeiture/