Replying to a message of Ward Dossche to Bob Ackley:

 WD> Bob,

 >> So he has the court impound and sell a US Navy ship that happens to be
 >> in harbor, or one of the Army bases the US maintains over there. 
 >> Bottom line is he'll get his money back, an option that is not
 >> available to ordinary US citizens.

 WD> Not even if you can demonstrate the legitimate origin of a large
 WD> amount of cash?

Yep.  There have been several horror stories about cops confiscating cash
from people,
although I haven't seen any recently.  They've come up with something
called 'administrative forfeiture,' which involves no judge or court, just
the unsupported assertion that the property was used for some sort of
illegal activity (originally drug trade, but this has been expanded to
include just about anything, some cities want to confiscate the automobiles
of men caught soliciting sex from police decoy 'prostitutes' - the
automobile was 'used in the commission of a crime,' even if the owner
parked it two blocks away and walked up to the decoy).  The owner of the
property must then post a bond and file a court action to try to reclaim
the property, the standard of proof for the owner is much higher than that
for the police, in that the owner must prove beyond reasonable doubt that
the property was not used in the manner claimed, and the police only have
to say that it was.

For many years the simple assertion that cash tested positive for drug
residue was grounds to declare that it was drug money.  Of course today,
given the vastly increased sensitivity of the tests, about 95% of the paper
currency in circulation will test positive for drug residue - including the
cash in the judge's wallet.  This is because the residue transfers by
contact
in cash drawers, wallets, purses, ATMs and currency counting/sorting
machines, not because it was actually used in drug transactions.

Aren't you glad you don't live here?

--- FleetStreet 1.19+