Third World Nation Alert: CBC News Says, Police Are Grabbing People's Cash Across The Nation

Hmm. Not too sure about this, but it is worth discussing.

From CBC:

Across America, law enforcement officers — from federal agents to state troopers right down to sheriffs in one-street backwaters — are operating a vast, co-ordinated scheme to grab as much of the public’s cash as they can; “hand over fist,” to use the words of one police trainer. 

It usually starts on the road somewhere. An officer pulls you over for some minor infraction — changing lanes without proper signalling, following the car ahead too closely, straddling lanes. The offence is irrelevant. 

Then the police officer wants to chat, asking questions about where you’re going, or where you came from, and why. He’ll peer into your car, then perhaps ask permission to search it, citing the need for vigilance against terrorist weaponry or drugs. 

What he’s really looking for, though, is money. And if you were foolish (or intimidated) enough to have consented to the search, and you’re carrying any significant amount of cash, you are now likely to lose it. 

The officer will probably produce a waiver, saying that if you just sign over the money then the whole matter will just disappear, and you’ll be able to go on your way. Refuse to sign it, and he may take the cash anyway, proclaiming it the probable proceeds of drugs or some other crime. 

Either way, you almost certainly won’t be charged with anything; the objective is to take your money, not burden the system. You’ll have the right to seek its return in court, but of course that will mean big lawyer’s fees, and legally documenting exactly where the money came from. 

You will need to prove you are not a drug dealer or a terrorist. It might take a year or two. And several trips back to the jurisdiction where you were pulled over. Sorry. 

The Washington Post this week reported that in the past 13 years, there have been 61,998 cash seizures on roadways and elsewhere without use of search warrants. The total haul: $2.5 billion, divided pretty much equally between the U.S. government and state and local authorities (hence the Kafkaesque “equitable sharing” euphemism). 

Half of the seizures, according to the Post, were below $8,800. Only a sixth of those who had money taken from them pursued its return. Some, no doubt, were indeed drug dealers or money launderers and just walked away from the money. 

Others just couldn’t spare the expense and time of going to court. Of those who did, though, nearly half got their money back, a statistic that fairly screams about the legitimacy of the seizures. 

So does another fact: In many cases, authorities offer half the money back – money they’d claimed was proceeds of crime. And when they do issue a cheque, they almost always insist their victim sign a legal release promising never to sue.