Federal and state law enforcement officials often utilize asset seizure and forfeiture in drug matters. U.S. Marshals utilize asset seizure and forfeiture to enforce the law, improve law enforcement cooperation and enhance law enforcement through revenue.
In 1984, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which gave federal prosecutors new forfeiture provisions to combat crime. Also created by this legislation was the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF). The proceeds from the sale of forfeited assets such as real property, vehicles, businesses, financial instruments, vessels, aircraft and jewelry are deposited into the AFF and are subsequently used to further law enforcement initiatives.
Law enforcement can seize your house, car, boat, jewelry and cash, without paying for it, even if you haven't been charged with a crime. The economy though has caused some law enforcement agencies to drop the asset seizure/forfeiture program. In Detroit, where the community has been hit hard by the real estate crash, asset seizure/forfeiture is being abandoned.
Federal prosecutors twice pursued a former autoworker suspected of running a multimillion-dollar drug operation. The first attempt fizzled when one man died shortly after an indictment. The second? Blame it on the collapse of Detroit's real-estate market.The government recently abandoned a plan to sell nearly three dozen properties (seized by law enforcement officials) -- land, houses and strip malls -- believed to have been acquired by Carson through heroin, marijuana and cocaine sales. "The market tanked," Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ziedas said. "If we were able to effectively market these and come up with some kind of return, we would have done it."
