I’ve posted before about the harm to sound law enforcement through ‘policing for profit,’ where the promise of financial gain motivates law enforcement efforts. Fortunately, the Institute for Justice has done fine work exposing the distortion — and lack of accountability — in departments that drift into this bad habit.
See, for example, The Institute for Justice on ‘Policing for Profit.’
When police departments seize property, they should be required to catalog and account for it.
This problem is so bad, in so many places, that the IJ’s had to file suit in Georgia to ask a court to compel officials to comply with Georgia’s own laws. The case, filed today, is Van Meter v. Turner.
In Major Lawsuit Filed Today Seeks to Shine Light On Georgia Law Enforcement Slush Funds, the IJ reports that
Georgia has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws and practices in the country, but a lawsuit filed today by the Institute for Justice (IJ) and five concerned Georgia citizens seeks to change that.
Civil forfeiture laws allow the police to seize your home, car, cash or other property upon the suspicion that it has been used or involved in criminal activity. In an attempt to ensure civil forfeiture is subject to public scrutiny, Georgia law requires local law enforcement agencies to annually itemize and report all property obtained through forfeiture, and how it is used, to local governing authorities.
But many, perhaps most, local Georgia law enforcement agencies fail to issue these forfeiture reports, thus turning forfeiture proceeds into off-budget slush funds shielded from public view. A new report, Forfeiting Accountability: Georgia’s Hidden Civil Forfeiture Funds, finds that among a random sample of 20 law enforcement agencies, only two were reporting as required. Of 15 major agencies in Georgia population centers, only one produced the required report. Yet federal data show Georgia agencies taking in millions through forfeiture.
Examples of abuse with these funds include a Georgia sheriff spending $90,000 in forfeiture funds to purchase a Dodge Viper, and a Georgia district attorney’s office using forfeiture funds to purchase football tickets.
Here’s a short, humorous video that describes the problem: