If they were giving the money from proceeds to charities, or sending it off to support the socialized healthcare system, or anything other than giving it to the people who get to declare you forfeit, I could maybe see it not being abused. As it is, It's in the interests of the cops to ensure that they convince judges that people are members of criminal organizations (not prove they've broken any laws, mind you, just that they hang out with people who do) since they get to keep the proceeds.
And then you get the same kind of abuses that happen here. Someone has property the local police chief has his eye on, so a member of the department walks to the pay phone around the corner and calls in an anonymous "tip". Wham bam thank you ma'am, next thing you know there's a fill-in-later warrant and a no-knock raid, and oh dear, the poor property owner accidentally got shot because one of the officers thought the TV remote control he had in his hand was a gun, and with no-one to dispute the charges, guess who the property now belongs to.
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If they were giving the money from proceeds to charities, or sending it off to support the socialized healthcare system, or anything other than giving it to the people who get to declare you forfeit, I could maybe see it not being abused. As it is, It's in the interests of the cops to ensure that they convince judges that people are members of criminal organizations (not prove they've broken any laws, mind you, just that they hang out with people who do) since they get to keep the proceeds.
-Ogre
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