police can seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets – all without so much as charging you with a crime. This is called “civil forfeiture,” a legal fiction that allows law enforcement to charge property with a crime.
Unlike criminal forfeiture, where property is taken away after its owner has been found guilty in a court of law, with civil forfeiture, owners need not be convicted of any crime to lose homes, cars, cash or other property.
And according to a new national report “Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture,” West Virginia ranks as one of the very worst states for civil forfeiture abuse.
via End W.Va. policing for profit | Charleston Gazette, The Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET.