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Civil asset forfeiture by N.J. police needs reform | Editorial

Related Topics: Asset forfeiture, Crime

Seizing the property of innocent people has become a common practice for law enforcement agencies everywhere, as it pads budgets and fills creature comforts.

Such as the district attorney in Massachusetts, who used $1,000 to buy a Zamboni. Or the police chief from Michigan who spent $115,000 on a tanning salon for his wife and $40,000 on prostitutes and marijuana for - wait for it - his vice squad. Or the county cops in Texas, who bought a carload of booze and a frozen margarita machine - literally a slush fund, as humorist John Oliver noted.