Personal Property & Asset Seizure: Policing for Profit

https://www.clarksvillian.com/post/asset-seizure-policing-profit

Excerpt

Civil asset forfeiture, or seizure, is one of the most shocking powers of the government. This power occurs when law enforcement confiscates private property with or without charging the owner with a crime.

In Tennessee, the betting odds are more likely law enforcement will take personal property than being a victim of theft. Scary, isn't it? Going back slightly more than a decade you will find Tennessee law enforcement has taken more than $150 million in cash and personal property – without criminal charges or legal accusations of criminal activity. The proceeds from these types of seizures are applied to policing budgets for equipment, computers, facilities, vehicles, or training. The concerns for these abuses are highly visible after The Institute for Justice released a study scoring Tennessee with a “D- “for “appalling civil forfeiture laws” at the state level. That’s not a statement made from a lack of facts or understanding. In late 2019, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights wrote to Tennessee officials stating our civil asset forfeiture laws were among the least protective of property owners in the entire United States. Tennessee is unique to nearly all other states by requiring property owners to pay a Cost Bond to start the process necessary to have wrongfully seized property returned. That fee? $350.