A humble proposal to end "policing for profit" when we have time......
Throughout this country, many police departments fund a portion of their own operations through tickets (paid to municipality which turns around and grants it back to departments), asset seizures/forfeitures, and other revenue producing or cost cutting activities.
It is, in effect, a profit driven activity. The more they bring in, the larger their budgets are. I've seen departments keep cars and other seized assets for what amounts to company cars or perks for high level staff.
But it is a state level, fully court sanctioned business, so what can be done.
Simple. It is, in essence, a form of interstate commerce activity since out of state drivers and interstate commercial truckers get swept up in it. It impacts interstate commerce.
So we should be able to pass a fairly simple bill to do one very effective thing.
Namely, require any funds generated by Law Enforcement activities must go to a state level general fund that is forbidden to allocate state budget dollars to any police department based on how much those departments bring in. Departments must exist on budgets established solely for the activities they are expected to provide.
That would effectively cut off the horrible incentive to bring in more revenue only to hire more staff to bring in more revenue.
Policing should be all about public safety. That doesn't include seizing assets just to fund departmental operations.