Cops As Thieves
Strong lede on a WaPo story on legalized theft, AKA "asset forfeiture," as pointed out by @EdYong. Robert O'Harrow, Jr., and Steven Rich write:

Police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored cars and electronic surveillance gear. They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles.

The story continues:

The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing Program, an initiative that allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize. The Washington Post obtained 43,000 of the reports dating from 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The documents offer a sweeping look at how police departments and drug task forces across the country are benefiting from laws that allow them to take cash and property without proving a crime has occurred. The law was meant to decimate drug organizations, but The Post found that it has been used as a routine source of funding for law enforcement at every level.

Spending included:

$5,300 worth of "challenge coin" medallions in Brunswick County, N.C.; $4,600 for a Sheriff's Award Banquet by the Doña Ana County (N.M.) Sheriff's Department; and a $637 coffee maker for the Randall County Sheriff's Department in Amarillo, Tex.

Sparkles the Clown was hired for $225 by Chief Jeff Buck in Reminderville, Ohio, to improve community relations. But Buck said the seizure money has been crucial to sustaining long-term investigations that have put thousands of drug traffickers in prison.

"The money I spent on Sparkles the Clown is a very, very minute portion of the forfeited money that I spend in fighting the war on drugs," he told The Post.

The problem is, this is very much a case of the fox guarding the henhouse, with a huge incentive on the part of police to call any money suspicious and to yank away citizens' rights -- forcing them to go through the expensive and painful process of proving it was earned lawfully, even when there is no evidence it was earned unlawfully.

More on what the seized money bought:

One task force used the money for a subscription to High Times, a magazine for marijuana enthusiasts, at $29.99 for a year.

Several departments bought custom-made trading cards, complete with photos and data about their officers. Some, including police in Chelsea, Mass., share them with children in their communities.

"We have found that this is a great way to build trust and foster long-lasting relationships with the youth in our community who get to know officers on a first-name basis," said Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes.

"Hi, I'm Brad, and I'll be violating your rights tonight!"