How A Small, Family-Owned Company Taught Cops Around America To Seize Millions In Cash

[True Earthling]

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-desert-snow-trained-americas-cops-2014-10#ixzz3GM8YsPTn

A controversial police tactic that lets cops seize large amounts of suspicious cash has been aided by a family-owned company that won millions in federal contracts, Robert O'Harrow and Michael Sallah write in The Washington Post.

That company, Desert Snow, has trained cops around the US on the art of roadside asset forfeiture, which allows police to take cash or other assets they believe have been illegally obtained. Cops can take these assets from people even if they're never convicted of or even charged with a crime, and people must go to court to get their stuff back.

In five years, cops trained by Desert Snow seized $427 million from motorists stopped on America's highways, the Post found.

[logosoco]

1. The war on drugs is a made up thing that turns people into "criminals" when they aren't really.

This is insane. It is nothing but a way for the people in power to make up control over other people and then enforce the silly rules.

The only time money is considered part of a crime is if it was part of a robbery or a scam. Crimes are when a person or another entity causes harm to another, not when it is something someone wants to do for themselves.

There are huge corporations doing major damage to the planet right now and our system is set up to fight people who choose to take drugs. The damage they do to themselves or the cost to the health care industry is nothing compared to what the war on drugs has done to this country.

[SoapBox]

2. It's criminal.

[msongs]

3. I wished the democratic party Inc and its politicians opposed this sort of thing. oh well nt

[Octafish]

5. Wouldn't that be great?

We would only want to have more of that democracy. So, no.

[dgauss]

4. Updated American version of good old fashioned road side robbery.

[mrdmk]

6. Goes along with the mentality of, 'everyone is a criminal'

If not you did something wrong in the past...