How Police Departments Use Civil Forfeiture to Collect Billions 

Civil forfeiture laws were created to cripple drug rings, but some police departments have been using reclaimed cash to fund operations, or even pay salaries directly. WATCH NEXT: The Ex-Undercover Cop Exposing the UK’s Police Corruption - bit.ly/2mJnBaG

stealing an entire 26 acres house and a bunch of cars at gunpoint from an old man and then locking up him and his wife in a cage and then extorting $25,000 from them in the form of a fine is not that bad of a crime. but smoking some herb... now you crossed the line.

The more I learn about America the more I fear for its own safety

5 minutes in and I can't even finish watching this it makes me so sick.

My boyfriend got robbed of his stimulus check right after he cashed it outside of a bank. He was robbed at gun point and the bank got police involved, the police found the man and disclosed to my boyfriend that they found the money... needless to say that money has yet to be seen by my boyfriend a year later...

Law enforcement are the ones who should be having their assets seized. This type of tyrannical bs makes me sick.

When I was 18 I had my backpack stolen with my MacBook, Prada sunglasses, and other expensive items in it. Naturally, I called the police to help me get it back. They got it back, but then threatened to keep it if I didn’t unlock my MacBook for them, since the KID WHO STOLE MY STUFF told them I was involved in illegal activities... They told me “hey if you’re so smart look this up, CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE...” It took months of my parents and lawyers harassing the police for them to just hand me my stuff back. It’s ridiculous that this is the course of action I had to take in America “LAND OF THE FREE...”

Remember when we used to call them pirates.

When you start taking away everything from people who at that point have nothing to lose, be scared, be very scared. Nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing to lose!

How is this any different from the thugs who would charge innocent business owners a tax to operate in "their neighborhood"? How is it any different?

The police department is so corrupt.

If you think asset forfeiture laws aren't criminal acts... think again. I once worked for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department as a deputy sheriff. I was fired for turning in/identifying corrupt cops within that law enforcement agency. These cops routinely stole possessions from innocent civilians and much through the "asset seizure forfeiture law(s)". All of them continually fail to do their job instead spending the majority of duty time doing nothing when they swore an oath to enforce the law/do the job taxpayers pay them to do. Worse yet, some of them were convicted criminals who somehow were later hired as cops only to continue their criminal misconduct under the protection of badge and gun. They are all protected by the corrupt administration of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department led by Undersheriff Bernard Melekian, Sheriff William "Bill - I am a Nazi lover" Brown and others to include lieutenant Shawn O'Grady, and Commander Eric Koopman. These corrupt SBSO cops are Marc A. Hammill (City of Buellton resident), Neil Gowing (City of Orcutt resident), Daniel Lee McCammon (Santa Barbara resident), Daniel Kohli, Wayne Johnson (Ventura resident) Justin DiPinto, Christopher Corbett, Edward Moss (City of Lompoc resident), Adrien Marquez (City of Lompoc resident), Karen McCormick (City of Lompoc resident), Dennis Thomas, Shawn O'Grady (Santa Ynez resident), Bernard Melekian, William "Bill" - "I am a Nazi lover" Brown (City of Lompoc resident and ex-City of Lompoc Police Chief). There are even cops within the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department who unjustifiably shoot citizens (Christopher MacAuley, Jeremy Rogers, and more). Then there are the cops who commit murder and get away with it protected by their corrupt supervisors and administration. Sociopaths abound in law enforcement and it is TIME for that to end. I'm writing a book about what happened to me. I shall expose them all for the crooks they are. I shall then recommend changes WHICH MUST be introduced and observed to end law enforcement corruption once and for all. Frank Serpico... you truly are my hero. DO NOT TRUST LAW ENFORCEMENT EVER. Carry a smartphone and/or voice recorder and ALWAYS have it recording should you find yourself contacted by law enforcement. Hold law enforcement accountable... FOR THEY ARE SERVANTS OF THE PUBLIC AND NOT SUPPRESSORS OF THE PEOPLE. END THE DRUG WAR - Abolish all local law enforcement narcotic teams and task forces. Abolish the asset seizure forfeiture laws.

My ex was once in a drug area. She was visiting an apartment because she was trying to buy a pill. Because of the area, she was pulled over. Her friend was with her and admitted to the police that she wanted to buy a pill in the area. They found no actual drugs on them, and charged my ex with "Attempt to possess narcotics". They took her car (worth about $20,000). She never got it back. This was in TN.

The police sound like a cartel to me

seize a persons house for owning a plant? my views are really changing on america

nobody gonna mention how the cop with the ar-15 basically threatened to shoot his dog ?

How to push a good man completely over the edge 101

Nice Freedom you got there...

End the fucking drug war.

As most of Oliver's stories show, almost everything in America is a racket. Civil forfeiture, payday loans, lotteries, TV preachers, educational loans, municipal courts and on and on and on. What a country.

Cop logic: "This is a huge amount of money, that's not yours is it?" Citizen: "It's mine" Cop: "good cause I'm seizin it!" To serve & protect huh? More like to Rob & Neglect...

"lemme in there! I don't wanna have to shoot your dog!" Jesus Christ, even if I was about to cooperate that would have escalated things to a 10.

Why does everybody in any slight little position of power love stealing from the poor...

I betcha a whole lot of that civil forfeiture stuff never finds its way back to the evidence room either.

who's said that America is fighting drugs is an absolute liar

“Once we take their money they can’t buy drugs no more” lmao

Mechanic was driving with a suspended license so police takes the car lol wtf

He said it himself: "We're looking for large amounts of money."

...and the moral of the story is, "Just because they're in a Police uniform, doesn't mean they're not a crook".

Let’s steal everyone’s money and charge people with misdemeanors for smoking a little bit of weed

Guy: "Yeah that's my money" Cop: "It is? Well I'm taking it"

How can this be in America when the innocent suffer at the hands of our police force, is this now how the police operate.

I had 1000 taken away from me and I never once sold drugs but after a year got a letter in the mail to pick the money up they thought I was going to forget but at the end I did go get it and boy were they mad

That old narc looks like he went on to selling drugs instead.

Did you guys hear the story of the $20,000 they seized when a guy was going to buy a car from craigslist? The guy said he was going to buy a car and the cop didn't even put it on the report, just took the money. Never returned it either, even after being called out on TV.

It's sad that people with nice things are scared to even drive through some states in fear of cops stopping them and taking their stuff.... THIS IS EXTORTION....

Pretty soon folks are gonna "just say NO" and people will be hurt..

How about a legal process instead of just taking it? Crooks!

One of my friends dads used to work for the DEA and he told me about how one time they found a major drug dealer and had all the evidence to convict him but where told by their bosses to wait till he would touch something valuable so they waited till he got on his plane so that way the could seize the plane with him as well

Now, I find these mini documentaries quite interesting, and the more of these I watch the more a I start to believe that the US of America is rotting from the inside out. And the more it rots, the quicker it rots.

This is a crime on the poor and middle class. This is the equivalent of repossession of homes and throwing ppl on the street.

This county is a business. One that preys on the poor and middle class.

I unfortunately got a taste of this with my first new truck in the 90s. I was a teenager got caught with an ounce of smoke and they seized my truck I'd just bought for 16k that I'd financed. Even though taking something that isn't paid for and not satisfying the lender in a seizure was supposed to be illegal it did stop the police from keeping it for 7 months and going to court a bunch of times fighting. All said and done it cost 7k just for the truck back. Another 10k to get a lawyer good enough so I didn't go to prison for an ounce. Icing on the cake was when I got off the charges the cops were pissed and told some dealer I had never even heard of that I ratted on him, so that guy was looking to kill me. Plus years of harassment and 19 tickets in two years. I can't believe they didn't have anything better to do. That's all I did was smoke, didn't do anything else wrong.

"the CRIMINALS will thank you" for getting rid of CIVIL forfeiture? You're mad you can't take people's stuff until after you do your job and prove their guilt in court?

DEALING DRUGS, WHY NOT GO AFTER THE BIGGEST OF THEAM, C.I.A

It's simple stealing from innocent people...

I work in law enforcement in Florida and know of the practice in some counties. But in the State of Georgia there will known for it. A few years back my brother and his son and a family friend were on there way to a vehicle auction.in Georgia when they got pulled over. In all my personal vehicle's I have dash cams hooked up my wife's and sons and daughters. I tell all my relatives to get them to. My brother had one in his SUV when he was stopped the dash cam shows your speed to. The officer that pulled him over said he was speeding doing 85mph in a 65mph zone. I always tell everybody I know do not fight with the police on the side of the road even if you know there wrong that's not the place to fight your case. So my brother said fine he knew he wasn't speeding and had the proof so he figured he would fight it in court. They were going to the auction to try to buy two almost new pickup truck's one for my brother and one for his son. The auction only took cash or a cashier check so my brother brought cash with him. He had it in the back of his SUV. The officer ask him if he had any weapons on him or In the vehicle which he did not then he asked him if he had any large amounts of my in the vehicle and my brother told him yes because they were going to try to buy 2 vehicle. The officer called for more units and when his sergeant showed up asked my brother to get the money my brother told them no because there was no reason for them to see it. He showed them all the information for the auction even his registration he had to do so he could make a bide at it. They didn't care about any of that they told him people use this road to transport drugs and now they were going to have a dog go around the vehicle. All of this is on video from my brothers dash cam and it just happened that one of the units that showed up was a K9 unit. My brother and son both took out there phones to video the dog going around the vehicle but when they did that they were ordered to put there phones on the ground and stand by one of the police units. Since my brothers dash cam didn't cover the rear we don't have video of the officer running the dog around the vehicle but the officer said the dog hit on something Now they have the right to search the vehicle my brother told them were his money was and they got it the thing is that was the end of the search. Again my brother told them about the auction but that didn't matter. They took the money and gave my brother a receipt and case number. There was over 35 thousand that they took and then drove away not even giving my brother a citation for speeding the reason they stopped him in the first place. My brother went right to there station to get his money back but they told him he has to contact the D.A office on Monday this was Saturday. My brother called me to tell me what happened and if I could help I told him not to do anything because that could get him arrested just to come home and I would make some calls. I found out a lot about this department from friends I have in the Georgia State Patrol how they were famous for doing this. I called there Chief of Police and told him who I was and who I worked for but all l got out of him was there's nothing I can do and to contact there D.A.. Now I'm really pissed so I can't even imagine how mad my brother was. When he got back I was waiting for him I wanted to watch the dash cam video and was even madder after watching it. The things these so called officer's pulled was more like a robbery then anything I called an old fried I have in the G.B.I. Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I told him what happened and sent him a copy of the dash video. Now before we even contacted the D.A office about the money on Monday they called my brother and said if they could keep 15 thousand they would return the rest that day my brother called and told me there offer. I'm just going to leave out a lot here but it took almost 2 months for my brother to get his money back with no apologies and they would not admit they did anything wrong. My brother did file a lawsuit against the county that this happened and they even made him a settlement offer it was low and his lawyer told him that he should hold of taken it. My brother does not want there money he wants them to admit they were wrong and a public apology which his lawyer told him he'll never get. Sorry on how long this was there is more to the story but I'm using a phone to right this and I can't use them like my kids do I make to many mistakes and don't go back to correct my mistakes.

6:25 ”WE DONT TAKE CASH OVER SMALL AMOUNT OF WEED” but when I was homeless with 2 vape pens they took every dollar I had and my car???

The system is such a joke & a damn scam in America…

I remember reading a story about a kid who had around $10,000 given to him by his mother for college and cops took it away because they found weed residue in his pockets.

Rome: I'm the most corrupt empire ever. USA: hold my Budweiser.

THANK YOU VICE NEWS, for finally bringing this story and matter to the forefront ! Because not to long ago it all happened to me as well...

America: we’re the land of the free! Also America: has the highest incarceration rate in the world

I don’t know how they can sleep with themselves, or look themselves in the mirror.

I feel so awful for that couple, I hope that concerned citizen that called on them can't sleep at night and everything bad in life happens to him or her

Do you know what's alarming? The phrase "Due Process" missing from most of the video.

"so its a back door tax on poor people" - democracy in a nutshell

So violating 4th amendment right of the people, which states no person can be deprived of life liberty or property without due process. Tyranny IS in our country and must be stamped out.

Barry Cooper looks like if the Tiger King was an antagonist in GTA Vice City Stories

Yeah that former narc doesn’t look like he squirreled a few million away... I’m sure he feels awful - lol what a crock

Police took 2 grand from my car once when they pulled me over and found weed. I wasn't dealer. It was my saved tips and I was bringing the money to the bank. I hate every single cop good or bad. Any good cop should not allow their department to do civil forfeiture.

I love how you get cops who do this shit for 10 years and then realize, "What have I become?"

Now I understand the movie Training Day 💡😅💡

Imagine how many police officers or lining their pockets with this cash before they turn some of it in.

Ever since I was a child, I've always dreamed of being a police officer. At 20, I enlisted as an active duty U.S. Marine and served for five years. After my honorable discharge, I went straight into college and graduated with honors. With all that behind my belt, I decided it was time for me to go after my dream, and I did. Tried out for Cincinnati PD, aced every test and obstacle thrown my way, and was well on my way to reaching my lifelong goal. Unfortunately, due to city politics and matters well out of my control, the recruit class I belonged to was scrapped. City was broke and needed to divert money to other areas. I was upset at first - actually, I was pissed - but in hindsight I'm grateful for that door closing. This came at a time when police brutality and abuse of power were gaining steam throughout the country, and, like many others, I was disgusted by what I saw on the news almost daily. In addition, I started thinking about the training we'd received and how unremarkable it was. For example, due to my military background I have extensive experience in deescalation training, an absolutely critical set of skills that, quite literally, can be the difference between life and death. It's hard to believe, but many, many police departments all across the country either don't provide this training, or it's done as an afterthought. I could go into much greater detail on my other observations, but I'll spare you a novel. These reasons, along with widespread corruption infecting some of the biggest departments in the country, made me realize that, despite my accolades and desire to serve, I could not be a cop. I couldn't wear the uniform every day without feeling like an enabler of sorts, working within the confines of a morally bankrupt institution and turning a blind eye to brutality and corruption. I'm at a point in my life now where I can honestly say I'm happy; however, that desire still remains deep within me, and it's hard to get out.

Basically this is robbing someone legally if the suspected person is not a criminal, just imagine that.

2017: "Nobody wants to say they're opposed to law enforcement" 2021: Half the population "ACAB!"

“Pennies from heaven” Isn’t that adorable??

The funding for the war on drugs is Literally the drug money?

They need to end civil forfeiture. It is abuse of power.

“I’m surprised that the government can get away with this” 🤦🏻‍♀️

Gangsters/Mobsters/Politicians with a badge and a gun

3:11 Officer: Na i gotta find the meth fir... Officer2: theres a safe Officer: Wheres the safe lmao

Cops remembering the tv cameras: I'm here for the drugs first, I want those drugs! Cops on seeing the stacks of money and a BIG bag of drugs: Get that money out! I want to count it! No this in MY stack! You're stacks over there! (As the drugs sit forgotten in the drawer)

Everyone is so money hungry they will do anything to get it. Anything.

This is sickening what they are doing to their people.

"Land of the Free," sorry I can't stop laughing!

As a former Sheriff's Deputy let me say this, "to Hell with these unconstitutional laws!" The drug war is evil.

The best gang members ever

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." -- Fourth Amendment, U.S. Constitution Forfeiture "laws" are a direct violation of the highest law of the land, the Constitution, and anyone using them are criminals and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

we should be able to give them a taste of the second amendment

basically gangs

The terms "I think this is drug money" as well as "I have concluded that this is drug money" shouldn't be enough to seize property.

So which agency takes assets from crooked cops and departments and gives it to the citizens?!?!

Actually scary as hell to know this is real.

Only in Murica.

Just remember this is 4 years ago a nothing has changed 😢.

America your police & government are out of control.

Pennies from heaven that gets you a new toy..... wow

Burglars always look for the safe first too!

20 years ago in California a bunch of guys were dealing weed out of this ladies house. Cops showed up with a warrant for meth. They didnt find any meth but they stole $25,000 that the lady was awarded after a debilitating car accident.

The biggest and deadliest gang in the country.

This is sick!

Constitution? What's that?... Fair Trial? Never heard of that before

Sho we shmoked a little weed ?!?! im deaddddd

If Wendell knows he's going to lose everything and sent to prison, I would burn it all down and they would only have the land left.

"not following the new law" means they are breaking the law. PUT THESE CROOKS IN PRISON!

So you believe war on drugs was about protecting your kids ugh?

Let's face it folks, Law enforcement in the U.S. didn't have a wholesome start to begin with, as an armed arm of big business and government. Therefore, no one should be surprised with this latest round of insults to our civil liberties. It should be equally unsurprising how cheap the price is to convince law enforcement to cross the legal line.

This is why I don't ever want to come to the US. Maybe they are the most powerful state in the world, but their laws are one of the most underdeveloped.