US police are selling seized phones with personal data still on them
newscientist.com
newscientist.com
https://www.visir.is/g/202099179d (sorry, was unable to find a source in English, hopefully google translate does a decent job).
In this particular case, assistance from the Icelandic police was deemed crucial to shutting down a major Silk Road drug ring, and part of the Bitcoin funds confiscated by the FBI (355 million krona, or about $3M USD) was given to the Icelandic government. A special law then had to be approved in Parliament to enable that money to be ear-marked for cyber-crime defence.
I find it insane that funds confiscated by the police in the US can be used and spent by that police force as they seem fit. That money should clearly to into either a state of federal fund, to be re-distributed.
How you are ok with the action, but not the result is I think what separates us and The end do not justify the means come to mind here.
Personally I think if youre stealing someone's property regardless if it goes into distributed tax coffers that benefit the public doesn't make it ok.
You're also conflating criminal forfeiture with civil in your example.
In Europe it is after the judgement as part of it. So the tools used in crime might be taken away. A gun in armed robbery. Maybe getaway vehicle if it is used multiple times. Special tools used for breaking in.
If it was spread out to decrease everyone's taxes for the year, people who "have nothing to hide" will celebrate anything that increases civil forfeitures. Give it to charity? Same problem.
It's just a terrible concept.
Whenever there is of more of an item than there might be buyers, the best deals can be more likely.
I wanted one or more for my employer's chem lab. I was a legitimate operator recognized by first responders.
Previewing the merchandise, there was one with a gram or two of loose cannabis in the carrying case.
A number of people noticed this.
The cops didn't clean it out or do anything, they just said depending on who buys it they'll just confiscate it again in the future.
I got a couple of the lab-grade models and just left the evidence stickers on them when we put them to use.
Another time there were lots of T-tops from the popular Trans-Ams and Corvettes of the time which were commonly stolen so drivers often needed cheaper replacements from used parts dealers.
These buyers got great deals at the auction since nobody else knew exactly which cars they would fit, and the cops fully realized these were the same dealers having them stolen-to-order when a victim came in wanting one they didn't have in stock. Everybody was making money except the victims whose losses were exacerbated by the system.
"In civil forfeiture, assets are seized by police based on a suspicion of wrongdoing, and without having to charge a person with specific wrongdoing, with the case being between police and the thing itself, sometimes referred to by the Latin term in rem, meaning "against the property"; the property itself is the defendant and no criminal charge against the owner is needed."
In America, when it comes to civil asset forfeiture, if they don't have enough evidence to charge you with a crime, they will charge your possessions with a crime. If you have cash in your vehicle, they can charge the cash with a crime, like being used for drug trafficking. Similarly, they can charge a locked phone with a crime of drug trafficking, without actually having to prove it. Mostly because taking the item means they will begin an "investigation" into whether or not it "committed" a crime.
"In contrast, criminal forfeiture is a legal action brought as "part of the criminal prosecution of a defendant", described by the Latin term in personam, meaning "against the person", and happens when government indicts or charges the property that is either used in connection with a crime, or derived from a crime, that is suspected of being committed by the defendant; the seized assets are temporarily held and become government property officially after an accused person has been convicted by a court of law; if the person is found to be not guilty, the seized property must be returned."
This protestant mindset regarding vices and how to fight them is really self-destructive to the society it possess, to the point were it creates more corruption and moral decay then the one it fought in the first place. Society was saved, by destroying all of society.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...