In the past only smaller website and likes like mine have bothered to cover the legalized highway robbery that allows police to seize cash from drivers they pull over. Civil Asset Forfeiture was started in the early 1980s by the Justice Department. It was meant to target and take money authorities believed was connected to crimes but it has since been widely absued by police as a license to become highway robbers.
CNN has finally began to cover this thievery. Here are a three videos that show the extent of the abuse. One where the government tried to seize a restaurant from a woman that was innocent and another where an officer robs some poker players of $100,000 because they thought “they were up to no good”. And another one where a policeman takes $40,000 from a motorist and deposits it in his bank account with no report.
Attorney General recently barred local and state police from using federal laws to seize cash but we still need reform with state laws. It should be noted that Georgia ranks among the worst in the country for highway robbery by the police. Here is hoping that Senator Vincent Fort will address this issue in his law enforcement reform legislation this year.
