For me, the original eye-opener about civil forfeiture was this NYT Mag article from 1994. Hard to believe it has been so long since I first read it as the sens

For me, the original eye-opener about civil forfeiture was this NYT Mag article from 1994. Hard to believe it has been so long since I first read it as the sense of unfairness and suspicion of government it delivered to me is still fresh. SULPHUR [Louisiana], POPULATION 20,552, ILLUSTRATES THE transforming power of civil forfeiture. It is a modest Southern town with one main drag, but at its north end stands a modernistic new office building. Outside its tinted windows and trim lawn, the well-swept Tarmac is crowded with rows of gleaming blue-and-white cruisers and sporty unmarked coupes, many of them equipped with video cameras and computers. The building, cars and gear all belong to the Sulphur Police Department. The day after my run-in with the drug-interdiction cops, I talk with Keith Andrus, supervisor of investigations for Sulphur's narcotics division. How does Sulphur manage to pay for the Police Department's new building, the cars and computers? Andrus smiles and points to a framed news item on the wall: "Traffic Violation Yields Police $532,100." An inset photo shows Andrus with a fellow officer beaming from behind a table heaped with stacks of cash. Typically, a speeder is pulled aside. When a lot of cash is found on him and his explanation is suspect, a drug dog is summoned. If the dog smells narcotics, the police seize the money. Because dollar bills are routinely used for packaging and sniffing cocaine, and the minutest trace of the drug will "infect" other bills, much of the currency in the country now tests positive for narcotics. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/magazine/the-law-goes-on-a-treasure-hunt.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/magazine/the-law-goes-on-...