For example, the Greensboro, North Carolina police use assets from private citizens to pay for an exercise room with lots of expensive equipment. In Erie County, New York the Sheriff used money from the forfeiture fund to buy himself a luxury car. In Suffolk County, New York, the local prosecutor was driving a BMW confiscated from drug suspects. The police give themselves more leeway than they give to the citizens. The Arizona auditor general reported in1993 that many state agencies could not account for the whereabouts of confiscated property.
Asset forfeiture encourages thefts by the police.
In Los Angeles, police were convicted in 1994 for stealing money from drug suspects. The IRS has the power to destroy your life. They can claim you owe taxes and take your stuff even if you don't owe any taxes at all. The IRS has wrongfully seized paychecks and bank accounts from tens of thousands of people. The IRS can take your bank account without a court order even if their accounting is based on their own clerical error.