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Cops still take more stuff from people than burglars do
(thewhyaxis.substack.com)
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this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Privacy
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This was a good article, US centric, but interesting. Would have been better if it didn't start with a picture of a happy looking dog and a seizure of $100k cash which the author can't even explain. The law says you have to prove you didn't get the money illegally, if I had $100k in my suitcase I think I would be able to explain how I got it.
In the US, you are innocent until proven guilty. Civil asset forfeiture runs against this idea. The burden should be on the government to prove this stuff is ill-gotten gains, anything else is unamerican.
It must be nice to have thousands of dollars and have no idea where it came from. But realistically it's highly unlikely that you would walk around with it.
Presumably you either were handed it in which case you know where you got it from, or you got it out of the bank in which case you must have a business or lottery winnings or inheritance you can point to.
I cannot imagine any innocent scenario where you have vast of money (in currency form) of which you are unable to provide origin information on.
This is the same argument as "you wouldn't object to a search if you have nothing to hide." The fact is that anyone walking around with thousands of dollars, however "nice" you imagine that to be, is entitled to do so without any explanation due to you or the government.
No it's common for cash. Anytime you buy anything very expensive, such as a house or you want to take out a fun contract you have to submit to anti money laundering searches. This is also true of physical cash.
Sorry, but you're conflating "using" cash with "having" cash. I can't speak to the rest of the world, but in the United States, the 4th amendment of the Bill of Rights states that you're to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. You can have any amount of money on your person for any reason you like, so long as you don't do something illegal with it. These cops are stealing cash under the pretense that it could have been used for something illegal, which directly conflicts with the idea of being innocent until proven guilty. The sham they perpetrate is that it's the cash being accused, not the person. It's bullshit and they have no intention of doing anything other than keeping the cash.
Want to withdraw all of your cash in dollar bills so that you can lay on it like a mattress? Legal, and cops shouldn't have any claim to it.
Want to withdraw all of your cash in golden dollar coins and try to swim in it like Scrooge McDuck? An ill-advised plan, considering how fucked the American healthcare system works, but legal, and once again, cops should have no claim to it.
Just having property - cash, gold, diamonds, very small unicorn figurines, whatever - is not an illegal or even inherently suspicious act.
Without probable cause, there's no reason a government agent should ever be able to take any property from you.