A Florida Bill was signed into law, just as the Department of Justice was about to start stealing again.

Today local police forces are outfitted better than Batman. Ever wonder how your local police force gets all those wonderful toys? Even small towns have new sports cars, boats, and helicopters. And they do it without raising your taxes, so there’s never a penalty paid at the ballot box.

It’s called “asset forfeiture”. If you get pulled over with something the police want, they can claim you’re a drug dealer and take it. If you’re carrying more money than they think you should have, they get to take that too. And in a strange twist of justice, it often costs you more money to get it back, than they actually took from you.

They even have ways of skirting local laws. A Federal program called: “The Equitable Sharing Program” (the winner of the most ironic name since “The Ministry of Love“, award) allows local police to seize property under less restrictive Federal Laws (for a modest 20% commission). From the Washington Post:

The “Equitable Sharing Program” gives police the option of prosecuting some asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state law, particularly in instances where local law enforcement officers have a relationship with federal authorities as part of a joint task force. Federal forfeiture policies are more permissive than many state policies, allowing police to keep up to 80 percent of assets they seize.

It makes America seem more like a third world county, where it’s common for Law Enforcement to pull you over, and relieve you of your valuables. To make things even Kafkaesque, the prosecutors file their cases against your money, rather than you. Because your money has no rights. There is no presumption of innocence (all money is considered guilty), and no right to an attorney. It can also be held indefinitely, without ever being charged.

That might sounds like legalized burglary, but it’s actually worse. Americans lose more to asset forfeiture every year than they do to burglary:

When the program was suspended in December because of budget cuts, it was a great a disappointment to municipal comptrollers everywhere. They somewhat felt like Illinois Lottery winners.

Civil Libertarians had hoped that the suspension signaled an intention by the Obama Justice Department to stop the practice. For a brief moment it seemed a President, who often speaks about Civil Rights, recognized that ownership of property was among them.

Unfortunately, hopes were dashed when a spokesperson for the Justice Department announced on March 28 that the payments were to be resumed. Apparently police will now be aggressively prosecuting the crime of driving with cash.

“This really was about funding, not a genuine concern about the abuses rampant in the equitable sharing system,” said Scott Bullock, president of the Institute for Justice. Apparently budget cuts are second only to gridlock in their ability to rein in an abusive government. (Vote for Budget Cuts and Gridlock 2016!)

On the bright side, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) just signed a bill that will make it tougher for police to rob you:

The legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the state legislature last month, and was also backed by a diverse coalition of public interest and law enforcement groups. It requires law enforcement officials to arrest suspects before seizing most property using civil asset forfeiture. And the seizing agency will have to pay a $1,000 filing fee to take the property and put up a $1,500 bond, which will go to the owner should he or she be found innocent. (full story)

Which is good news for Florida residents, who are often Great Depression survivors, and drive around with coffee cans full of cash.

Only 49 more to go.