Civil asset forfeiture is one of those nasty bits of government policy that ruins many people in a futile quest to stop the drug trade. It allows law-enforcement officials to seize property (usually cash, but also cars and even realty) merely by saying that they find reason to think that the property might have somehow been involved in illegality. The owner then has to go to court and try prove that everything was legit. Most of the time, the officials get to keep the loot.
I’m happy to say that there is now a movie out that blows the whistle on civil asset forfeiture. At Reason, Peter Suderman writes about it — Rebel Ridge.
Civil asset forfeiture is an issue that ought to be high on the list of targets by liberals and conservatives. Senator Rand Paul, for one, keeps introducing a bill to stop it at the federal level, but it never advances.
A few years ago, the movie Little Pink House exposed the ugly side of eminent domain. There are many other government policies that cry out for a good movie. How about a movie on the corrupt and venal public schools next?