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ICE Reportedly Stole a 10th Grader's Phone, Then Seemingly Sold It for Cash (futurism.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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[–] 25 points 9 months ago (4 children)

It's called 'civil forfeiture', been happening for literal decades (at least), and it's, unfortunately, probably legal.

Gotta love how being a cop in the US is so legal that we have to give them new, extra-legal ways to exist so they feel appreciated by the peasants.

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  • [–] 26 points 9 months ago* (3 children)

    It's absolutely not legal to immediately sell an asset gained via civil judicial forfeiture for personal gain.

    It's a legal action filed against the property itself because they believe it was involved in a crime or purchasing with proceeds from a crime. It's basically charging the asset with a crime.

    The state can sell the property, but only if no one has filed a claim contesting the seizure for a period of time. There are strict time limits and notification requirements before this can be done.

    https://www.justice.gov/afp/types-federal-forfeiture#%3A%7E%3Atext=Civil+forfeiture+allows+the+government+to+file%2Creachable+through+criminal+forfeiture%2C+such+as+property

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Thank you for the additional info.

    In that case, civil forfeiture has been practiced illegally, nationwide, for a very long time. This practice is nothing new.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    I remember reading a whole lot about it during the Bush and Obama admins. The War on Terror was a great added excuse for backwoods cops to pull over brown people and rob them, and minorities (of course) were far less likely to lodge a complaint about it.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago

    Yeah, legality and enforcement are two different things. But I don't think it's common for cops to immediately pawn stuff then try to claim civil forfeiture.

    I feel like they're more likely to just lie and say it got lost, because otherwise a halfway decent lawyer could win a civil suit against them since they can't produce the 'defendant'.

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