The New York Times published an article November 9th, 2014 that highlights police misuse of civil forfeiture laws. Originally intended to seize guns, cars, cash, and other fruits of criminal activity, civil forfeitures around the country are being used aggressively by law enforcement as nothing more than a shopping list for police departments to obtain items they want, and items that can be sold quickly for cash to fund the departments. This phenomenon has been well-known by criminal defense attorneys for years, but the video in the article is priceless. The seminar video is of a city attorney essentially boasting that his civil forfeiture techniques can get departments whatever they want.

This article from the Lost Coast Outpost is interesting because it appears to be an example of someone actually fighting back. Most people would be satisfied with the return of 90% of their unlawfully-seized money, but these two men appear to be fighting the good fight to protect their civil liberties: they are demanding 100% of the return of their seized money, and suing the police for damages.