Can police confiscate my laser? Yes!

Just thought I'd share this. Good to know especially if police in your area regularly abuse their power.

"Civil Asset Forfeiture" enables police in the US to basically confiscate whatever they want even if you did nothing wrong. Getting stuff back isn't exactly easy either.

Couple good articles on the subject
- Civil Asset Forfeiture: 7 Things You Should Know
- Police Can Seize And Sell Assets Even When The Owner Broke No Law : The Two-Way : NPR

Of course they still can't come into your home or fenced in property without a warrant. So it's not like they can walk into your home and "go shopping" - but in theory they could take the shoes off your feet while you're walking down the road.

IMO, always get a receipt, at least then you can be sure your property isn't being pocketed on the spot. An honest "good" officer isn't going to confiscate your property for no reason though.

'Murica I guess? Don't think something like that could ever happen in my country. Kinda weird though. It looks like they can just tell you to take of your jacket, take it and then just sell it for a profit.

mbcolangelo said:

"Civil Asset Forfeiture" enables police in the US to basically confiscate whatever they want even if you did nothing wrong. Getting stuff back isn't exactly easy either.

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Suppose I am holding the winning lottery ticket but I just threw my receipt away? Can they just come and "confiscate" it? lol XD

It's pretty messed up. Sure there's practical uses for it, such as confiscating drug money. But obviously, as clearly illustrated in the NPR article, it's easily abused.

Constandinos97 said:

Suppose I am holding the winning lottery ticket but I just threw my receipt away? Can they just come and "confiscate" it? lol XD

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lol. I think the receipt would be useless. They would just say the ticket is affiliated with litter recently found nearby and thereby subject to investigation.

Constandinos97 said:

Suppose I am holding the winning lottery ticket but I just threw my receipt away? Can they just come and "confiscate" it? lol XD

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I'd run for it. As fast as I can.

gozert said:

I'd run for it. As fast as I can.

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XD Pretty sure that they'd shoot you

Murrica!

mbcolangelo said:

It's pretty messed up. Sure there's practical uses for it, such as confiscating drug money. But obviously, as clearly illustrated in the NPR article, it's easily abused.

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As far as drug money goes, they can just say it's drug money. In some areas now if they catch you with over $500 cash in your pocket, such as during a traffic stop, they say that is suspicious and just take it, and you don't get it back. I have also heard of someone having cash stolen by the TSA. Today the police in the U.S. Are nothing but government sponsored criminal gangs that are above the law.

$500 cash is not that much anymore, most banks now won't give you much cash if you go into the bank, but they mostly now let you take out up to $800 a day from cash machines, although individual machines don't let you take out that much, most cash machines used to have a $200 or $300 limit, now I notice many have a $400 limit. It's not unusual for me to have $500 cash when I go shopping at Walmart twice a month, I shop for two people and often have to pick up a prescription for my 90 year old mother and a Virgin Mobile top up card $39.02 for my Android once a month. So it's not unusual for me to spend up to $500. I also like to keep some extra cash in case I need it, I do laundry every two weeks and that costs $20-$25 each time now, cash only, but they do have a cash machine there, and have you noticed that cash machines now charge you $2.50 or $2.75 and a few are even more, so you don't want to take out a small amount of cash or you are paying too much just to get back your own money.

Alan

Constandinos97 said:

XD Pretty sure that they'd shoot you

Murrica!

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Funny how Cyprus has the highest amount of armed Greeks compared to the mainland

Disgusting but it figures.

I had a HeNe that I had made portable and inside a plastic squirtgun./machinegun rig.. It looked awesome.
At a concert event plainclothed cops confiscated it and returned it to me at the end of the concert at their little police station.

more details from my previous post on this here:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/has-your-laser-ever-gotten-you-into-trouble-53009.html#post743710

I just read the links, and, its a VERY narrow interpretation of the circumstances.

IE: The exceptions are significant, but glossed over with anecdotal references to ways around it (federal sharing, etc).

The reality is that the odds of a policeman walking over and demanding your shoes, or cash, out of the blue, is infinitesimal.

The odds of you driving drunk and having them take your car is very very small unless a particular department has gone rogue, etc. (At that point, they can just shake down the entire city, etc...w/o needing excuses)

The odds of them taking your car if you're busted for enough drugs to be dealing though is very high, as THAT scenario is more in line with the program's intent and scope.

IE: There is, in reality, no "Federal Sharing Program" that will involve your shoes or your house, unless your house was used to deal from, and/or you're Old Mother Hubbard, etc.

THAT program is designed to take down organized crime/drug dealers, etc. To "Share" the feds are required to file accordingly. Its a formal process, not a "Trick or Treat Bag" they hold out whenever a cop randomly mugs someone.




The more common way to lose your house to a government action, WITHOUT doing anything wrong, is actually from Eminent Domain seizures.

Some entity in power simply says that your house is in the way of improvements that will benefit the community (A new highway, a park, new development, etc...), and you have X days to get out before the dozers come and flatten it all. (They DO, typically, have to pay you market value + bonus for it...but, you have to take it)

:scowl:

FutureOne said:

Funny how Cyprus has the highest amount of armed Greeks compared to the mainland

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Umm to be honest, it isn't really ironic (if that was your intention), since I see no correlation between the two XD I believe this to be a false analogy (the analogy of more Greeks carrying guns in Cyprus with the getting-shot-easily-in-America joke).
And from where exactly did you get this "fact"?

Just so we are clear, it was a harmless joke

I've experienced this semi first hand. My fam has a business. used electrical/scrap. we were doing a demo site in MO and my dad was driving home to California with about $100k cash from copper and steel scrap. he was pulled over in his work truck, with lots of scrap and useable items on it. the cop asked my dad if he had a large amount of cash on him, my dad said yes, etc.. dad got arrested, money got taken. My bro was in law school at the time, found a lawyer to fight it and get the money back. we were able to prove the money was legal the next morning.

this whole process of getting the money back took about 6 months. no trial. it ended up being a "settlement" lawyer took 10% state of MO took 20%.

Michael.

chipdouglas said:

I've experienced this semi first hand. My fam has a business. used electrical/scrap. we were doing a demo site in MO and my dad was driving home to California with about $100k cash from copper and steel scrap. he was pulled over in his work truck, with lots of scrap and useable items on it. the cop asked my dad if he had a large amount of cash on him, my dad said yes, etc.. dad got arrested, money got taken. My bro was in law school at the time, found a lawyer to fight it and get the money back. we were able to prove the money was legal the next morning.

this whole process of getting the money back took about 6 months. no trial. it ended up being a "settlement" lawyer took 10% state of MO took 20%.

Michael.

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That makes me SO mad!!!!!

@ chipdouglas
So they made $30,000 off of your family. That is so unfair. Sorry to hear that. :/

chipdouglas said:

I've experienced this semi first hand. My fam has a business. used electrical/scrap. we were doing a demo site in MO and my dad was driving home to California with about $100k cash from copper and steel scrap. he was pulled over in his work truck, with lots of scrap and useable items on it. the cop asked my dad if he had a large amount of cash on him, my dad said yes, etc.. dad got arrested, money got taken. My bro was in law school at the time, found a lawyer to fight it and get the money back. we were able to prove the money was legal the next morning.

this whole process of getting the money back took about 6 months. no trial. it ended up being a "settlement" lawyer took 10% state of MO took 20%.

Michael.

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That is total bullshit.

I do have to say something though: the main mistake your father made was talking to cops in the first place. It is a hard lesson. Don't answer any questions you don't have to. Ever. Nothing you say can or will be used in your defense.

Don't tell the cop what the scrap is for. Or where you're going. Or whatever you have in the car. None of those answers need or should be answered. Of course don't be a dick about it, but don't give out any extra info.

You are required to give him your proof insurance and ID when asked, but beyond that keep your mouth shut. Never, ever, give permission for them to search your car for any reason including even if you have nothing to hide. Don't respond to threats (using dogs, etc.) either. The worst thing they can do? Search your car. Searching your car means at the very least they'll be wasting your time, at worst finding something to pin on you whether you're to blame or not.

https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/your-rights-and-police