Last Week Tonight looks at Civil Forfeiture.

[CreepyOldDude]

And it's both depressing and funny.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks

I liked the Law & Order bit at the end.

[Private Pickle]

And it's both depressing and funny.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks

I liked the Law & Order bit at the end.

Saw that. Made me angry. The fact that there is almost zero recourse is what I find the most frustrating.

[CreepyOldDude]

Saw that. Made me angry. The fact that there is almost zero recourse is what I find the most frustrating.

True. They do their best to make getting your stuff back cost more than what you lost.

I have family in Texas. One of my cousins is a plumber. He did a lot of work for poor people. Since they're poor, they often didn't have bank accounts. He let them pay him over time, 10% of the bill per their paycheck. They'd drop off the cash at his office. His office is one and a half blocks from his bank. End of the day, a good few years ago, he was on his way to the bank, to deposit the day's receipts ($10,894.38, of which $3,300 was cash.). The money was in a deposit bag that the bank gives to business customers who regularly deposit a fair amount of cash. There was a filled out deposit slip attached to the bag. He was stopped by the police, who decided he was taking the money to buy drugs, and seized the bag, and everything in it. Now, you're talking about a late middle aged guy, still wearing his plumber uniform.

He went to court to get things back. It took 17 months, and just over $2,000, but the court ordered that all his property be returned to him. That was in 1998. He still hasn't seen any of the cash. He got the checks back after they had expired, so he had to either re-bill customers, or eat the loss. He ate the loss on some, some he re-billed.

This kind of thing, which is related to the War on Drugs, is why so many people don't trust the police.

PS: On the amusing side, the police call his son (who inherited the business when my cousin retired) to do their plumbing. He charges the police department a 10% CAF surcharge.

[Private Pickle]

True. They do their best to make getting your stuff back cost more than what you lost.

I have family in Texas. One of my cousins is a plumber. He did a lot of work for poor people. Since they're poor, they often didn't have bank accounts. He let them pay him over time, 10% of the bill per their paycheck. They'd drop off the cash at his office. His office is one and a half blocks from his bank. End of the day, a good few years ago, he was on his way to the bank, to deposit the day's receipts ($10,894.38, of which $3,300 was cash.). The money was in a deposit bag that the bank gives to business customers who regularly deposit a fair amount of cash. There was a filled out deposit slip attached to the bag. He was stopped by the police, who decided he was taking the money to buy drugs, and seized the bag, and everything in it. Now, you're talking about a late middle aged guy, still wearing his plumber uniform.

He went to court to get things back. It took 17 months, and just over $2,000, but the court ordered that all his property be returned to him. That was in 1998. He still hasn't seen any of the cash. He got the checks back after they had expired, so he had to either re-bill customers, or eat the loss. He ate the loss on some, some he re-billed.

This kind of thing, which is related to the War on Drugs, is why so many people don't trust the police.

PS: On the amusing side, the police call his son (who inherited the business when my cousin retired) to do their plumbing. He charges the police department a 10% CAF surcharge.

Then they take that money and buy "toys"... They don't encorporate that money as part of their budget as that would mean less burden on the tax payer... Can't have that...