I respectfully disagree its a valuable tool when used responsibly. The problem is its misapplication.
In this case the police had no probable cause to search the residency in the fist place. They broke the law. No trained LEO would have entered the hose without a warrant because anything they obtained would be rightly tossed out of court.
As for the Civil Forfeiture it was not predicated on any legal standard since the search was illegal.
Civil Forfeiture needs to be determined by a court not an agency. If the cops and prosecutors know they will have to go to court and justify their their seizure and forfeiture they will clean up their act. This is the current standard for federal law enforcement.
This is not hard to fix. I don't want the El Chapos or financial scammers of the world to keep their ill gotten gains.
And I don’t want cops shaking down citizens on the side of the road “sign this and give up your $3000 or go to jail” or losing home and legally acquired possessions.
But here we are.
The government has proven decisively that it cannot be trusted with the power of civil forfeiture; abuse is baked into the system.
I don't want the El Chapos or financial scammers of the world to keep their ill gotten gains.
That's what criminal forfeiture is for. Get a criminal conviction first. Then and ONLY then can the convicted criminal's assets be pursued.