This Police Department Seems to Think Law Enforcement Is a ‘Get Rich’ Scheme

[Geee]

Heritage Foundation:

The city of Sunrise is back in the headlines. Last year, city officials caught flack for luring criminals from around the country into the Florida community just to seize their cash and cars under civil forfeiture laws.

Now, the city’s forfeiture program has earned it a rebuke from the federal government.

In an audit of the city’s participation in the federal “equitable sharing” program, the Department of Justice inspector general found that the Sunrise Police Department was keeping shoddy records, violating its own internal procedures and perhaps even enacting sweetheart deals with a local law firm to get around federal rules governing how forfeiture dollars are spent.

 

Civil forfeiture—the law enforcement tool that allows police to seize personal property without a criminal indictment—has been in the news a lot lately. Less talked about is the federal-state crossover program known as “equitable sharing,” where a local police department can seize assets it believes are involved in a crime, then transfer the case to the federal government in exchange for up to 80 percent of the proceeds.