Here's What Happens When Cops Police For Profit, Not Public Safety

A controversial program that allows police to seize private property has become a massive revenue driver for law enforcement departments around the country, an expansive report published Tuesday has found. Under the practice known as civil asset forfeiture, police and prosecutors work together to permanently seize cash and property -- including cars, homes and businesses -- based on the suspicion that it's connected to criminal activity.

While civil forfeiture is regularly touted as an important crime-fighting tool, authorities don't need to charge owners with a crime in order to take their property, and most of the time, forfeiture is approved without any definitive proof of the alleged criminal ties. Once the government takes control of a person's property, it's typically sold off, sending proceeds back the police departments and legal offices that worked the case.

Most Americans Have No Idea How Easy It Is For Police To Take Your Money

A new poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans aren't familiar with civil asset forfeiture, a controversial law enforcement practice that allows officers to seize a person's property -- including cash, cars, jewelry and houses -- without obtaining a conviction or even charging the owner with a crime.

The HuffPost/YouGov survey, released Thursday, shows that 72 percent of Americans have never heard of the term "civil asset forfeiture." The poll also suggests that a majority of Americans are unaware that police and other federal law enforcement agencies use the process in ways that routinely violate the rights of innocent property owners, according to critics.

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.

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.