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A comment on SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police. Parent comment

Re:SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police by jswhitten on Friday August 09, 2013 @02:27PM (#6187410)
Yes, the police can steal anything from you that they want. They do not need to arrest you or charge you with a crime, or even show evidence that a crime even occurred. The burden of proof is on you that you didn't break any laws. The idea is that they're charging your property with a crime, not you, and since your property is not a person it has no rights.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that this kind of asset forfeiture is constitutional.

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Re:SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police by Symmetry on Friday August 09, 2013 @04:46PM (#6188373)
In some jurisdictions it's illegal for the police to seize property like this for their own use, and all proceeds have to go to local schools or such. Thankfully for local police the FBI is happy to officially take custody of the seized money and then pass most of it back to the police, letting them bypass those laws.
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Re:SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police by Symmetry on Saturday August 10, 2013 @10:05AM (#6191106)
Looked it up and I was wrong about this being the FBI, it's actually the DEA.
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