According to reports published in the Arizona Capitol Times, the Arizona law enforcement agencies have seized around $200 million in personal property from the past 5 years from suspects, which lead to a “systemic gaps” that made the following cash difficulties and winning the seize thing back to nearly impossible.
The report also said these seizures typically start at traffic signals, when police officers seize cash or drugs from the suspects. The report said “anything suspected of being used as part of the crime, including cash, is then fair game for seizure.”
According to the report, once the cash was seized, state law makes it difficult to fight.
Prosecutors only have required to prove that the cash or drugs were “more likely than not” related to a crime.
The civil rights advocates have strongly criticized these state laws. Not only does a suspect whose property has been seized have to prove his innocence, he can still be on the hook for the costs associated with the prosecution and investigation, the report said.
The report said the La Paz County Attorney’s Office and the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office did not respond to interview requests.
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit investigative newsroom. AZCIR reportedly spent more than a year gathering quarterly reports.
The AZCIR reported that it found “vague” expenditure descriptions and there is little data other than “aggregate totals” of the amounts seized. These funds reportedly increased the budgets of 80 law enforcement agencies in the state. Nearly 90 percent of the seizures were cash.
It is reported that Reporter Bob Thorpe, is seeking a statewide database of all seizure cases. He said that, he does not believe “something sinister” is going on, but said the program “Has evolved into something that was not, I do not believe, intended back in the 1980s when the laws were originally passed.”
AMandeep
