Law Enforcement Tool or Legal Theft?

Guest: Beth Colgan, Professor of Law, UCLA It’s a little known fact that police in most states have the ability to seize property – we’re talking homes, cash, cars – if they suspect the stuff helped in committing a crime. Say, if someone were caught selling drugs, police might seize the car the suspect was driving. In many states, police can even do this before someone is even charged or convicted of a crime. The seized property often gets sold and the law enforcement keeps the cash. “Civil forfeiture” brings in millions of dollars for police every year. And for the last year, the US Justice Department has been encouraging local police departments to seize stuff as a way of funding their crime-fighting efforts.