Are there corrupt cops around? I'm sure there are but I'm sure that the vast majority are honest folks who do a good job trying to keep us safe from the folks who aren't so honest and trustworthy. I know that the LEO's that I'm personally aquainted with are all fine people. But, to me, that's not the point of this thread. The point is that laws exist that allow personal property to be confiscated without any charges whatsoever. I expect that most of us have read articles in our own local newspapers where money, cars, boats, airplanes, and even real property have been confiscated by law enforcement agencies and no charges were ever filed against those from whom the property was confiscated. All that was needed was the suspicion that drug related activity was involved. Note that I said the property was confiscated by law enforcement agencies, not individual officers. There's no corruption involved. The property does not enrich the officers involved though it may be used/sold by the agencies to pay for more enforcement efforts.
But there's no need for me to worry about this activity is there? After all, I don't use drugs, never have, never will, and certainly am not involved in manufacturing, growing, transporting or selling them. Why should I worry?
Well, how about this? I just checked my billfold and I had three one hundred dollar bills in it. I don't always have a hundred dollar bill, though I try to keep a couple in case I need them but there have been times when, as someone mentioned earlier, that I've carried quite a few. Like going to buy a used Ford Excursion from someone who wouldn't accept anything but cash. I carried 110 one hundred dollar bills. Just the fact that I was carrying $11,000 in cash makes me a drug suspect and subject to having the money confiscated but take it a step further. Druggies don't write many checks, they deal in cash. What's the chance that one of those hundred dollar bills has been in a drug dealer's possession? And what's the chance that a drug sniffing dog would smell some kind of drug on it? For that matter, what's the chance that one of the three I'm carrying right now has been in contact with drugs? I don't know what the odds are but even 10 to 1 is too big a chance and I think, at least where I live, that the chance is greater than that. I don't worry at all about corrupt police officers. I think there are very few of them but I am genuinely concerned about laws that allow property to be confiscated without legal charges.
Cotton