https://reason.com/blog/2015/07/22/a...orfeiture-laws

Deputy County Attorney Craig Cameron, who in subsequent email correspondence would call Cox "nothing more than a straw owner" of the truck, was unmoved. The next step was to challenge the forfeiture in court. Cox had to pay a $304 fee for the privilege of trying to prove her own innocence, a reversal of the presumption that applies to criminal cases. "Rhonda was caught in a Kafkaesque predicament where, bizarrely, she bore the burden of proving that she was entitled to get the Truck back," says her complaint. "The State did not have to prove that Rhonda did anything wrong—let alone criminal—in order to keep the Truck."

In case that challenge was not daunting enough, Cameron warned her that she would have to pay the county's legal and additional investigative expenses if she lost. "Such fees and costs, if the case had gone to trial, would have exceeded the value of the truck, perhaps many times over," the complaint notes. "On top of authorizing the seizure of her Truck even though she did nothing wrong, the Forfeiture Laws then punish Rhonda for standing up for herself and her property in court." The risk was too much for Cox, so she dropped the challenge.

The ACLU notes that the filing fee and liability for the opponent's legal expenses apply only to property owners, not to the government. "The Forfeiture Laws have created a system in which few people like Rhonda can afford to take the risk of defending their property," it says. Citing records of Pinal County forfeitures from the month in which Cox's truck was seized, the ACLU notes that they often involved property worth less than $1,000, in many cases less than the $304 filing fee. In effect, police are free to steal people's stuff without having to worry about proving it is connected to a crime, as long as they don't steal too much at one time.

Cameron fully understands the intimidating effect of telling owners they may have to pay the expenses that the government incurs in taking their property. "I have started to ask for fees in every case," he wrote in a June 19, 2014, email message to an owner's lawyer. "I suspect you didn't consider attorney fees when you took the case. By asking for fees, I'm reinforcing to the criminal defense bar the risks associated with making a claim in a forfeiture case. I'm sure you may disparage me to your criminal defense brethren for asking for fees, but they will know the risks and rewards better."

By contrast, the risks that police and prosecutors face in pursuing forfeitures are low, while the rewards are high. "All the proceeds from Arizona state forfeitures go to the law enforcement agencies involved in seizing and prosecuting the case," the ACLU notes. As examples cited in the complaint show, Arizona law enforcement agencies, including the sheriff's department and county attorney's office that took Cox's truck, have become alarmingly dependent on forfeiture money, which pays for overtime, retirement contributions, weapons, vehicles, police dogs, home security systems, and even entire divisions, such as the bomb squad, SWAT team, and hazardous materials unit at the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "Arizona's Forfeiture Laws stack the deck against claimants and incentivize law enforcement to maximize their profits at the expense of Arizonans' constitutional rights," the complaint says. "This racket has to stop."
https://reason.com/blog/2015/07/22/o...set-forfeiture
An assistant district attorney in the state of Oklahoma lived rent-free in a house confiscated by local law enforcement under the practice of asset forfeiture. His office paid the utility bills. He remained there for five years, despite a court order to sell the house at auction.

Another district attorney used $5,000 worth of confiscated funds to pay back his student loans.

These are just a few of the gems unearthed during a recent hearing on Oklahoma authorities’ liberal use of asset forfeiture to take property from suspected criminals and spend it on personal enrichment.
civil asset forfeiture... how is this even legal? And why is it ok for the Govt to steal your property but its not ok for you to steal govt property? Because the Govt is the supreme power. it is god. You as a person are nothing but a servant. a peasant.