New Mexico Cops Bummed They Can't Just Steal People's Money Anymore

Asset forfeiture has accounted for more than 20% of police dept. operating budgets—and that's now banned.
By Phillip Smith
Alternet
Jul. 10, 2015

A New Mexico law that has just gone into effect bars police from seizing people's property without first convicting them of a crime, and the cops are already complaining. Equally bad, the cops say, is that when seizures are allowed, the money will now go to the state's general fund instead of to the law enforcement agency that seized it.

As the Farmington Daily Times reported, law enforcement is already yearning for the good old days. Without that incentive, they may just seize less stuff, and they might even reduce drug law enforcement, they said.

"We're going to try not to seize," said Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe, warning that "I don't think that they anticipated how much it's going to hit local law enforcement, and we're still trying to figure out how bad it's going to hit us."

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