It took me a year to fight it and when the charges were finally dismissed, I got all my property back except my $500 cell phone. It was a basic misdemeanor charge but I was threatened with an unrelated felony if I didn't take a plea deal. I refused and the prosecutor moved to withdraw the case citing lack of evidence, preventing me from winning via acquittal.
The fact that I was falsely accused of stealing two cheap cell phones and then the police stole my phone instilled a permanent distrust in the police.
Then recently, I got involved in a dispute with a roommate and all my property was taken to a police warehouse. When I went to get it, the police officer told me there had been a robbery and all my stuff was stolen. About $6000 worth including priceless family items.
I'm a white guy who doesn't break the law, although I am a bit politically active and rebellious. What I have experienced by the police and justice system is enraging and disenfrancising. If I was surrounded by poverty and crime, and had no hope for the future, I could see myself becoming emboldened against the police and turn into a life of crime.
The way they treat people is wrong. The plea bargin system is a worse crime than most of the petty offenses people do. The way they treat you in jail is malicious and purposely antagonistic. It's a mild form of torture that doesn't rise to sensational levels but it perpetuates and sustains an atmosphere of distrust and hatred towards authority figures.