Free Republic

SANTA FE, N.M. — The city attorney of Las Cruces says increasingly broad interpretations of civil forfeiture laws could be “a gold mine” for authorities across the country to seize things such as expensive cars and even people’s homes. But his remarks during a seminar filled with local government and law enforcement officials — made with an amiable bemusement that bordered on glee — were caught on tape and have turned into a gold mine for critics who say the laws turn the justice system on its head and encourage authorities to see the personal property of private citizens as...

A man gave up $123,850 and the 1999 Ford Windstar van he was driving to the Cleveland County Interstate Criminal Enforcement Team Thursday afternoon. The enforcement team, made up of regular sheriff's deputies who patrol the county's highways and I-85, pull over speeders and others violating traffic laws. But, in the midst of these regular pullovers, they're trained to spot suspicious items in order to find contraband. In the case of Thursday's incident, officers pulled over the southbound van on a routine traffic stop on I-85 near mile marker 2 and found a hidden compartment with the money in it,...