On a business trip to Houston, Texas, Mr. Jones was pulled aside for the suspicious way in which he purchased his airline ticket with actual cash. So they took the money. Jones couldn't afford the ten-percent bond he was required to post to be allowed to sue for the return of his own money, so he resorted to a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. He recovered his cash after a two-year legal battle. The low burden of proof required for asset forfeiture is enticing to prosecutors and police who often find themselves burdened by troublesome juries and defense lawyers.
Forfeiture is also lucrative , even if the practice does little to foil actual crime.
Don't forget the mini-bar, sheriff. Forfeiture money is apparently becoming so plentiful that some police departments can lose track of where they've stuffed all those fifties and hundreds. At least, that seems to be the case with the Prince George County, Maryland, Sheriff's Department. Curiously, the tipster's job is being eliminated. New York City raised a few eyebrows about a year ago when Mayor Giuliani and company decided that suspected drunk drivers were such an imminent threat to the republic that they needed to be relieved of their wheels at once.