[Reason] Chicago Mayor Doubles Down on Calls for Law to Seize Property From Suspected Gang Members

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Doubles Down on Calls for New Law to Seize Property From Suspected Gang Members
Civil liberties advocates say the law is just a reheated version of flawed state anti-gang law.


https://reason.com/2021/12/21/chica...o-seize-property-from-suspected-gang-members/

excerpt:

A 2017 analysis by Reason of five years of forfeitures in Chicago found that the city had initiated more than 23,000 seizures for $150 million in cash and property over that period. The data, obtained by Lucy Parsons Labs, showed that, while forfeitures happened all over the city, low-income neighborhoods bore the brunt of asset forfeiture.

Seized property ranged from a cashier's check for 34 cents to a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost with an estimated value of more than $200,000. Police also seized Xbox controllers, televisions, nunchucks, 12 cans of peas, a pair of rhinestone cufflinks, and a bayonet.

"The research we've provided to Reason shows police are using these perverse incentives to take money from everyone they can get away with," Martinez says. "Despite the rhetoric, the truth is these programs seize, on average, just hundreds of dollars. They're not busting Noriega."

In her speech, Lightfoot said that this year alone the Chicago Police Department and other law enforcement had seized nearly $27 million in cash and $442 million-worth of drugs in the city. "And we need to keep our foot on the gas," she said.
​

just gotta say . . . 12 cans of peas. damn, that's cold.