It's time to talk about the police. This article isn't decrying the evil police or the angelic saviors of our society: I want to talk about something called Civil Forfeiture. More importantly, I want to talk about what it is and how messed up its practice is.
Way back when the British still owned the U.S., the crown had the authority to seize ships that were not following the British law. As the U.S. began growing into its own, civil forfeiture began to be something we Americans saw as reprehensible. However, once the Americans got their own sovereignty, we also put seizure laws into effect; this was only done, however, to help tax collectors. Once prohibition set in, police used civil forfeiture to seize illegal alcohol, and during the drug prohibition we live in today, it's still used to take up illegal drugs.
Today, not only can property be seized by the police on a whim, but all assets (including any cash on hand) can be seized by police suspecting the victim of a crime. However, the person who is seized does not need to actually be found guilty of any crime, only suspected of it. We trust our officers not to take this very powerful tool too far, but evidently that does not happen. So then, the issue is clear. Any police officer can accuse any individual of being involved in a crime, and then seize all assets and property they deem necessary that was involved in said crime. But wait, you may ask, what do police stations even use these assets for? Well, some stations use funds for things like military grade equipment, coffee machines, and literal clowns.
So, what can be done? Well, Nebraska just recently signed into effect a law banning civil asset forfeiture. Now, Nebraskan officers need a criminal conviction to legally seize property. Nebraska joins North Carolina and New Mexico in effectively banning the practice. However, the underlying issue still remains. Police have power in this country; this much is undeniable. How much power is at this point, a decision of the politicians? No longer are the police accountable to the citizens they protect; their union and the politicians deciding their salary now have control. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, but it is something we need to keep in mind as we move forward into the time of big government.
The idea that police officers wouldn't be selfish toward their own is naïve, and police need to be held accountable to the right people, their constituent population, and not to the ones who pay their bills. That's the police we ought to have, and that's the police a lot of officers are, but a lot is just not enough.
