Stopped in motor home for going too slow on I-80

"boondockdad"....I probably shouldn't have stated "get your information straight", but wanted you to see what the money is used for. In the unit I was assigned, we had two old bomb robots. Since I was mechanically inclined, I did a lot of the repairs. They were typically broken about every third use (35 calls a month) caused by misuse (23 people in the unit) and the age of the robots. When they broke, I used my own funds to fix them and then waited months for the County to reimburse me, if they did. I would also get chastised for using my own funds, but the County had no way of providing money for 1-2 day repairs or overnight shipping.

We used Forfeiture Money for buying robots that the County had no intention of buying for us due to budget restrictions. Keep in mind this was the largest Sheriff's Department in the U.S. and one of the largest full time bomb squads in the Country.

Once our new robots were in place, I located smaller squads around the State and gave the others away, so they would at least have a robot. So the funds were used wisely and sparingly. No money from heaven, just money to make the job safer.

DSDP Don wrote:
Wow.....Are some of you THAT naïve. This was a dope dealer. They stopped him, but didn't find dope. This doesn't just happen to Joe citizen driving down the road. How many of you drive around with $167K stashed in your vehicle. Suddenly, many of you have made him out as a full timer enjoying his retirement when he gets caught up with the police for no reason.....really!!!

I guarantee that if you could see the driver's record, he has a long list of dope convictions. This article is printed from the side of the driver, where law enforcement is never asked or is not willing to discuss the case, but the media likes to print what looks like an outrageous story.

This is a defense version of the story and is no different than what you hear from a mass murderer's defense attorney. Telling you he was a choir boy and model citizen.

You are absolutely correct. Too many people believe what they hear from the media. Unfortunately, they don't hear the rest of the story.

Yes, I watched the video. Pennies from heaven. He was being literal that it is just pennies in the grand scheme. They bought some tracking software with it. He's talking to his City Council and explaining budget items to them. You think because he used the word "toy" that they are really buying toys. Most departments use the seizure money they receive just like this Chief described. It is used to buy "nice to have" items that aren't otherwise covered in the budget.

Yeah,
That's what he meant by "pennies from heaven.... It gets you a toy that you need"

Did you watch the video I linked?

boondockdad wrote:

DSDP Don wrote:
"boondockdad".....You need to get your information straight. Seizure of cash is not a "windfall" for a police department. In California, one third of the seizure goes to the agency who seized it, Sheriff, Police, etc. That money can only be used for buying equipment. There were STRICT guidelines for it's use. I used it several times to buy badly needed new robots for our unit. One third goes to the State and the last third goes to Mental Health for drug programs. So it's certainly not a windfall to the agency who seized it.

Sure.
Here's another LEO that doesn't have his "information straight".

http://youtu.be/ipHUN-xLLms

You posted a video that proves exactly what Don told you. This Chief is saying very little money comes in from asset forfeiture so they can't rely on it for anything that requires continued funding. They use it for one time purchases of specialty items. Exactly what Don said.

DSDP Don wrote:
"boondockdad".....You need to get your information straight. Seizure of cash is not a "windfall" for a police department. In California, one third of the seizure goes to the agency who seized it, Sheriff, Police, etc. That money can only be used for buying equipment. There were STRICT guidelines for it's use. I used it several times to buy badly needed new robots for our unit. One third goes to the State and the last third goes to Mental Health for drug programs. So it's certainly not a windfall to the agency who seized it.

Sure.
Here's another LEO that doesn't have his "information straight".

http://youtu.be/ipHUN-xLLms

I understand the concern - I do believe in Innocent Until Proven Guilty (or at least the more realistic version Not Guilty Until Proven Otherwise). I also believe that it's better to let 100 guilty people go free than to lock up ONE innocent person.

However, on the flip side, I do not believe that the state police, county sheriff, AND FBI have a conspiracy going on to steal money from innocent people. I do not believe this was some sort of attempt to "get rich" by any one of the agencies, let alone all three.

DSDP Don wrote:
"boondockdad".....You need to get your information straight. Seizure of cash is not a "windfall" for a police department. In California, one third of the seizure goes to the agency who seized it, Sheriff, Police, etc. That money can only be used for buying equipment. There were STRICT guidelines for it's use. I used it several times to buy badly needed new robots for our unit. One third goes to the State and the last third goes to Mental Health for drug programs. So it's certainly not a windfall to the agency who seized it.

There's a whole lot of misinformation on this thread about the seizures and what people "think" is happening. Like you, I worked in the business. In fact I was assigned to the Federal SAR's committee for my area and an FBI White Collar Crime task force. I saw how seizures worked and I saw the good it did. But people read some media stories and see complaints from criminals about losing their money and they automatically believe the government is just taking property for no reason at all. It's amazing how the media can influence people so much.

"boondockdad".....You need to get your information straight. Seizure of cash is not a "windfall" for a police department. In California, one third of the seizure goes to the agency who seized it, Sheriff, Police, etc. That money can only be used for buying equipment. There were STRICT guidelines for it's use. I used it several times to buy badly needed new robots for our unit. One third goes to the State and the last third goes to Mental Health for drug programs. So it's certainly not a windfall to the agency who seized it.

Skylark wrote:
U.S. Forfeiture laws were originally passed in 1988.
When first used, it was very much abused, some changes have been made to curtail abuse, but abuse has not stopped. Some would not be so naive about the abuse if they would study case law.

For civil forfeiture read the link.

Civil Forfeiture

For RICO forfeiture read this link.

Forfeiture

You are correct, there were some abuses and laws were modified to curtail those abuses. The example in the case we are talking about with the motorhome was not an abuse. It's clear the money in this case was gains from drug sales. As far as abuses continuing, it's possible, but I'd have to look at each case and form my own opinion about that. Just because a case is lost by the government in court, does not mean it was an abuse. Many examples of abuse come from stories from attorneys and drug dealers who have lost their money.