Americans for Prosperity is working to reform the nation’s asset forfeiture laws, which often permit law enforcement to seize and forfeit private property from individuals without ever charging them with a crime. In almost all jurisdictions, when law enforcement does take ownership of a persons’ property, they get to keep most or all of the proceeds. This system creates a perverse incentive for police to seize assets rather than focus on solving crime and serving the public. Even when utilized with the best of intentions, this system is prone to abuse. And innocent people have been needlessly victimized by it. Consider just a few out of the many civil asset forfeiture horror stories: South Carolina: Mikee Albin’s RV In 2009, Mikee Albin was a 65-year old Vietnam veteran, cancer patient, and restaurant owner, residing in an RV in the parking lot of his workplace. State law enforcement began an undercover gambling investigation of his restaurant and purchased a small amount of marijuana from a cook. Based on that purchase and the presence of nine video poker machines at the restaurant, police searched Albin’s RV and recovered four ounces of marijuana. This was below the legal threshold permitting the seizure of … Continue reading Civil asset forfeiture: seven horror stories