DEA Hired A TSA Informant To Help Take Cash From People's Luggage

[Live and Learn]

DEA Hired A TSA Informant To Help Take Cash From People's Luggage
It also promised the agent a cut of the profits.

A Department of Justice watchdog officially condemned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this month, following a report that the agency had recruited a Transportation Security Administration security screener to search bags for cash that the DEA could confiscate.

The very existence of such a partnership highlights much broader concerns about the controversial legal practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which critics say contorts law enforcement priorities and props up a system of policing for profit.

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"This really is what we see every day around the country -- when law enforcement takes property using civil forfeiture, law enforcement is able to keep that property and use it to fund their budgets and in many cases even to pay the salaries of people who are overseeing the forfeitures," said Johnson.

"That creates an obvious financial incentive to take property from people who haven't done anything or haven't been proven to have done anything wrong. It creates an incentive for all kinds of abuse," he added.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dea-tsa-agent-cash_us_569f9db5e4b0875553c266ea?

[riversedge]

1. k and r.

[bemildred]

2. Drug cops are all crooks. nt

[LuvNewcastle]

7. Yep.

I have just as much respect for crack dealers as I do the DEA. They aren't as bad as pimps, but they're in the same class.

[Festivito]

3. Legalized theft and pseudo-legally denying civil rights.

Having cash is reasonable cause to take your cash because you would soon start a drug habit possibly to enjoy yourself.

And, they do this with straight faces.

[Live and Learn]

6. Seems so un-American and yet.... nt

[wildbilln864]

4. and a big K & R! n/t

[lonestarnot]

5. Is this a Gopeer plan?

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Obama's DOJ

has done nothing to stop this crap. In the war on drugs, both sides are complicit

[jomin41]

8. D.E.A. = Zombie organization.

The corruption, ineffectiveness, destructiveness of the DEA has been thoroughly understood for at least 25 years, but IT WILL NOT DIE. Instead it has grown even more entrenched and useless and evil. The DEA is the most anti-constitutional element of our government. It is the biggest cancer in our establishment. I don't need any more proof than this that we need a REVOLUTION. Go Bernie!

[Fast Walker 52]

9. indeed-- so outrageous

a clear case of a bad government agency rum amok, maintained by ridiculously backwards policies. It would be awesome if Bernie could get rid of them or severely reform them.

[Duppers]

12. Well said.

[blackspade]

10. The DEA is a cartel with badges.

They are a bunch of extortionists and pirates.