Corruption: "Based on my training and experience, I'm going to steal your money"

The real problem with corruption in the U.S. is not at the margins, with bad cops taking bribes outside the law..

It's right at the center of government itself, with agencies using bad rules to take property overtly and using the court system for cover.

This CAF ("civil asset forfeiture") story is remarkable precisely because something like it happens every day.  Or, almost twice a day, because as the story notes there more than 600 CAFs in 2012.

Excerpt:

ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa — For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.

The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report. “How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”

The federal government does.

Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up....

There is nothing illegal about depositing less than $10,000 cash unless it is done specifically to evade the reporting requirement. But often a mere bank statement is enough for investigators to obtain a seizure warrant. In one Long Island case, the police submitted almost a year’s worth of daily deposits by a business, ranging from $5,550 to $9,910. The officer wrote in his warrant affidavit that based on his training and experience, the pattern “is consistent with structuring.” The government seized $447,000 from the business, a cash-intensive candy and cigarette distributor that has been run by one family for 27 years.

US Priority Number 1: Hassle Young Adults For Something Legal in Civilized Countries

So, a young woman buys some ice cream and some flavored sparkling water. Outside the store, two guys try to hassle her.  She takes off in her car.

Turns out they were cops, or at least they were Alcohol Bev Control wanna-be cops.  Of course, she had no way of knowing that, since their car was not marked, they were in street clothes, and they did not identify themselves.  The story is here.  Maybe it's not the cops' fault; there are too many laws.

Problem:  it IS the cops' fault.  They are using money from forfeitures and seizures to buy SWAT equipment, and this new command post.  Remember, these are NOT REAL COPS, not even the ones buying SWAT equipment.  They are just the guys who are still trying to enforce the 18th Amendment.  Does anyone think this is actually worth all the money we spend on it?  (You gotta like the part where it says "no taxpayer money, all from seizures."  Nice.  Police are self-financing now, from assets they steal from people who may, or may not have committed a crime.  Interesting reading:  Those right-wing nuts at ACLU have some good documentation.)

All you lefties, why don't you mention Europe now?  You love Germany and France, etc for all those policies you admire.  What about their drinking age?  Europeans think we are a crazy, repressive, prudish society. And they are right.

Nod to Radley Balko...and thanks to Tommy the Infuriated Brit.