From 2005 to 2014, Illinois seized $725 MILLION from people SUSPECTED of committing a crime.

Illinois residents forced to cough up nearly $725mn in civil asset forfeitures.

Over the course of a decade, Illinois and federal law enforcement took in more than $319 million and $404 million, respectively, from state residents who were merely suspected of having committed a crime, a new report has found.

The state stole $319 million. The Federal partners in crime received $404 million.

They operate much like the Mafia, the boss always gets a cut.


Initially I thought that those numbers seemed incredibly high. I did some searching and found that the federal government alone since 2008 has stolen $3 BILLION dollars worth of cash and property: Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police.

As always, it made no difference as to who controlled the Presidency, House or Senate (Republican or Democrat).

Certain agendas always move forward.

I have to wonder at which point the American people are going to say enough is enough.

And yet the state is still $200 million in debt.
Where did the money go?

originally posted by: Bluntone22
And yet the state is still $200 million in debt.
Where did the money go?

It's easier to spend and go in debt with other people's money.

a reply to: gladtobehere

Born and raised in Illinois, moved to the southwest 2 years ago and can't say I miss that sh#thole one bit. Dirty cops, judges, politicians, that state is one giant cesspool of corruption, drugs and crime. With that said, i'm not surprised one bit by this article. I remember my brother telling me about lottery winners there not getting paid recently because the funds weren't there. Looks like they had their hands in the cookie jar.

They've even stolen from me. While I was in the military I had my car stored at my mothers. The car had valid registration, insurance and was functional. My mother called letting me know they planned on towing my car if I didn't move it to prove that it ran. Fortunately I was coming home on leave and was able to stop by and move the car. Well apparently that wasn't enough because after I went back to my duty station my mother called to let me know they towed it anyways along with many other peoples car in town all in one day, even a neighbor down the street who had just bought a new car. I got in touch with the city only to find out that it would cost me 1200 bucks to get it back or they would issue a junk title and scrap the impounded cars. I said screw it and let them keep it since I wasn't paying 1200 to get a car I paid 1800 for when I bought it. Absolutely disgusting people running that state.

a reply to: gladtobehere

Civil asset forfeitures is/are one of the biggest things that piss me off about the police. It's almost tied with trigger happy LEOs.
There doesn't have to be any evidence or convictions, yet they can take people things and cash.
It's something that needs some major reform. convictions need to be mandatory for civil forfeitures.
Minor crimes need to be exempt. for example a tiny amount of weed. Having a large amount of Cash should not be considered a crime. Ive read stories about people with no other crimes or charges other than they had a large sum of cash, to lose it all.

Like to see it removed for most but the largest crimes.

a reply to: ishum

Their paying the price. At the rate people are moving out of Illinois they won't have anyone to steal from eventually. Their bleeding citizens pretty badly.

Study: Latest migration numbers bad for Illinois.

Why?

Here is the answer to why and how this happens. The population at large, and in fact nearly all government officials are ignorant to how this process works simply because the origins are two generations back.

Fact. The the only two declared wars happening right now are: The WAR on poverty which is an officially declared war and the WAR on drugs which is also official. Vietnam was never declared, Iraq, nope.

WAR is a word that is not a euphemism, it is a legally defined word that means something around the entire word. In fact, I'd argue it is one of the few words that means one thing and one thing only around the world - at least in those countries who have agreed to maritime law as a code of conduct. It is never used as a joke by a government official and it is never used to mean something other then war. When the War On Poverty was officially declared by President Johnson he looked right at the world population and said, "poor people, we are coming for your sorry asses with the full power of the military machine and government system!." He made it illegal to be poor in every part of the world. Hold that thought.

Nixon, who had no beef with drugs themselves decided just a few short years later, to declare War On Drugs - poor people do drugs so the overlap is awesome. By Halderman's admission it was to get after the hippy people by demonizing them. But that statement was only half right, Nixon said "drug use means we're coming after whoever we want for whatever reason we want if you have drugs or we say you have drugs."

So. Wars. The key to the notion of a Declaration of War is this. When you define the enemy in a Declaration Of War you are allowed, by planetary law, to strip the enemy of their rights. Once the "spoils of war" rationale is enacted upon the enemy, in this case poor people and holders of drugs, you can do as you wish to them without due process because the are a declared enemy of the state.

So, in the last 50 years who is in prison? Poor people? How about pot smokers? Who has lost their assets through civil asset forfeiture? Who has had their land taken? If you are accused of stealing money from a bank you are given due process. If you are ACCUSED (enemy of the state) of smoking pot your entire net worth can be seized without due process or recourse. HELL YES! War rocks people, War is where all the fun is at because all the rules are thrown out - you are an enemy of the state if you are thought to be a pot smoker. In fact, shoot a crooked banker and all hell will break loose, shoot and mildly high enemy of the state and the local army gets money.

The problem is those wars allow the US agents of the DEA and many others to go into ANY country they want under the guise that the enemy of the state exists. Those two wars allow for money to be taken by laughing bureaucrats with no recourse for those caught in the literal cross hairs. So the wars will continue.

Why is this going on? We've forgotten how it started, in fact many of those who initiated the actions are dead. In fact, most folks fail to remember any of this at all. Folks argue, "well drugs are safe, no worse then alcohol why isn't' it all legal?" They argue the wrong point. To end this the only words that anyone, anywhere should every utter on the topic are: Declare and end to the War on Poverty and Drugs and then we'll talk.

Send a letter today to your congressman asking for him or her to end these wars. Watch them chuckle because they think the "war" word just meant "we are serious about this trouble." They don't get it either but the truth is right in front of you, in the words.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
And yet the state is still $200 million in debt.
Where did the money go?

Here's a thought where.

a reply to: gladtobehere

Yes, this racket has made me wonder what the hell is going on, for quite some time. This needs to be in the news constantly, but of course it isnt.