What A Country --- Steal Your Money To Buy Death Toys For The Boys

[kpete]

Asset seizures fuel police spending


Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/wp-content/themes/wapo-blogs/inc/imrs.php?src=
&authapi-mob-redir=0&w=1200

ABOVE: In Douglasville, Ga, population 32,000, an armored personnel carrier costing $227,000 was bought using money taken from Americans under civil forfeiture laws.

The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department’s Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize. The Washington Post obtained 43,000 of the reports dating from 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act request.


Stop and Seize: In recent years, thousands of people have had cash confiscated by police without being charged with crimes. The Post looks at the police culture behind the seizures and the people who were forced to fight the government to get their money back.

The documents offer a sweeping look at how police departments and drug task forces across the country are benefiting from laws that allow them to take cash and property without proving a crime has occurred. The law was meant to decimate drug organizations, but The Post found that it has been used as a routine source of funding for law enforcement at every level.

“In tight budget periods, and even in times of budget surpluses, using asset forfeiture dollars to purchase equipment and training to stay current with the ever-changing trends in crime fighting helps serve and protect the citizens,” said Prince George’s County, Md., police spokeswoman Julie Parker.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/10/11/cash-seizures-fuel-police-spending/

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. And cops who play way too much Special Ops on their time off

[Eleanors38]

2. Courtesy of that back-burner issue: The WOD.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Legal? robbery. The War on Drugs. The gift that keeps on giving.....for LE.