Asset forfeiture was a good idea that has been perverted by the big government types and the “police are never wrong” types into legalized armed robbery.
Example:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/settlement-means-no-more-highway-robbery-tenaha-texas
It was never a good idea in the slightest.
The first person to even suggest it, in even the most egregious case with the best of intent should have been beaten to within an inch of their life, set afire and their remains scattered FAR from American soil.
Anyone participating in or defending this practice should be stripped of their citizenship and dropped into their choice of North Korea or Iran. From 20K feet. Sans parachute.