Last year, Charles Clarke had his life savings of $11,000 taken by DEA agents at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport. Clarke had no firearms, drugs, or any other contraband in his bag. However, since officers claimed the bag smelled of marijuana, they resolved his cash was for the purpose of drug trafficking. This reasoning allowed DEA officials to commit legal theft and take Clarke’s $11,000, despite not charging him with a crime of any kind.
Civil asset forfeiture laws allowed the DEA agents to commit legal theft. Now, 13 agencies want a cut of the money taken from Clarke.
Civil asset forfeiture — henceforth referred to as “procedural theft” — is a practice wherein law enforcement officials can seize money or property from someone who they suspect may be involved in some kind of illegal activity. The police do not have to charge the individual with any kind of crime. In fact, a staggering number of people who have been victimized by procedural?theft were never charged.
Charles Clarke is in no way the only person to have his life altered by procedural theft.
- Tan Nugyen, after winning $50,000 at a Nevada casino, was pulled over by a Nevada deputy. Nguyen’s winnings were confiscated, despite no citation being administered — not even a traffic violation. The same Nevada deputy would also take $2,400 from Matt Lee. Both Nguyen and Lee would ultimately beat procedural theft in court and be reimbursed the assets “forfeited.”
- Alda Gentile had $11,530 taken through procedural theft in Georgia. Gentile claimed the money was for a house-hunting trip in Florida. Gentile, like Nguyen and Lee, was not charged with a crime.
- While passing through Tennessee, George Reby was stopped. Reby, who was purchasing a car from a dealer on eBay, had $20,000 in the vehicle. Reby told the officer that he was purchasing a car, but the cop didn’t buy it. Reby was never charged with a crime and spent the next two months attempting to get reimbursement.
These are just a few of the over 60,000 instances of procedural theft committed by law enforcement in the United States since September 11, 2001. In each of these cases, cash was seized without a warrant or a citation administered or a crime being acknowledged.
Ultimately, this could happen to anyone at any time.
What makes procedural theft even more abominable as a practice are the standards which need to be met for justification by law enforcement officials. According to the Institute for Justice, most states give officers the ability to make these decisions at will and without much by way of legal justification.
Only three states — Nebraska, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — require proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the seized property will be used for criminal purposes before engaging in procedural theft. Most states require preponderance of evidence (justification of likelihood) to seize property, while 10 states — Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Wyoming — allow procedural theft to take place based on first impressions by law enforcement officials.
So, what happens to money allocated by procedural theft?
For some precincts, funds acquired through procedural theft are added to department budgets. In some instances, like with Charles Clarke, seizures become cash-grabs. However, some instances of procedural theft are associated with corruption on behalf of law enforcement officials.
The gold standard for this is in Texas, where a bill had to be introduced (though it subsequently died) in an attempt to curb behaviors such as…
- Former Jim Wells County D.A. Joe Frank Garza admitted to using over $4 million in asset forfeiture funds for extra pay and casino trips.
- Former Hill County D.A. Ron Sutton used over $20,000 in asset forfeiture funds for staff bonuses and trips to Hawaii, one of which was with a judge.
- Former Montgomery County D.A. Michael McDougal used asset forfeiture funds for tequila, rum, kegs, and a margarita machine for an employee party.
Trust of law enforcement is one of the most important parts of a functioning society. Between procedural theft, rampant police brutality, and for-profit probation and incarceration services, American law enforcement are doing a particularly shitty job at maintaining public trust.
For a more in-depth study of procedural theft, click here to view a report by the Institute for Justice and here for an investigative report by the Washington Post.
