[RIMR]

What's worse is they don't even need a shred of evidence to take your stuff.

In some states, having more than $10,000 in cash on your person is automatically considered "evidence of criminal activity". That means that the police, just by seeing that you have more than $10k in cash, can simply seize it and then force you to spend your time and additional money proving that the money didn't come from crime.

And, of course, every cent of the cash they take goes to their own department, so they are incentivized to look for cash during traffic stops just so they can literally commit highway robbery...

It's also not unusual for an officer to record that they found $15k in cash, only for the person they seized it from to call foul, stating that they had more. Since there is literally nothing protecting the citizen in this situation, they are left without any legal remedy, and the cop gets to pocket your cash for his own illicit purposes.

This is a system that encourages corruption with the justification of profit.

[slowburning]

In some states it is illegal to defend against civil forfeiture practices using hidden compartments in your vehicle to store 100% legal property (e.g. cash, jewelry, confidential information)

[downandout]

Interesting article about a guy who was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for building hidden compartments for customers of his car stereo shop:

https://www.wired.com/2013/03/alfred-anaya/

[avar]

From the article:

    > "calculated ignorance of illegal
    > activity is not an acceptable excuse"

I.e. the court's argument is that he was perfectly aware that he was building these for drug cartels. If we take that judgement at face value I don't see the problem with this. You don't get to wink wink nudge nudge your way out of being a knowing accomplice to a crime.

[sbarre]

By that logic, shouldn't gun companies be prosecuted for the crimes committed by the drug cartels who use their weapons?

Given the current state of affairs in the US and the publicly available statistics on gun crime, one could argue that continuing to manufacture guns is knowingly supplying criminals, no?

It's a slippery slope..

[pc86]

A better analogy is an FFL knowingly selling firearms to cartel members, which is already illegal.

[gmiller123456]

No. The guy in the article wasn't prosecuted for every hidden compartment he made, just the ones he made that he was well aware were going to be used for illegal activity. Just like guns, the vast majority of them won't be used for anything illegal, even though some of them will be. But the moment you knowingly and willingly facilitate criminal activity, you become a party to the crime. That's true with guns, secret compartments, candy bars, or anything else.

[avar]

That's absurd. The legal test is whether a reasonable person could have known that they were an accomplice to a crime.

The article makes it clear that this man knew he was building these for cartels, and tried to weasel his way out by claiming he'd never seen drugs with his own eyes, but had seen almost a million in cash from some very shady guys.

This would be like running a "Taxi service" that catered to Balaclava wearing gentleman exiting a bank, claiming that you had no idea you were helping with a robbery. Perhaps they're just really ugly businessmen in a hurry? Would that mean nobody could drive a Taxi anymore? Of course not.

[sbarre]

You were downvoted but you make a good point, and I think your example is better than mine.. Point taken.

[bnolsen]

as opposed to people actually using those compartments in an illegal fashion. Out of control government...

[VectorLock]

Which states?

[uxp]

Ohio, California, Georgia, Illinois, and Oregon.

http://reason.com/archives/2014/02/16/the-crime-of-having-a-...

http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/2191-hidden-...

https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/legal-digest/legal-digest-inves...

[x3n0ph3n3]

* http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/12/09/secret_compartme...

* https://www.wired.com/2013/03/alfred-anaya/

[arwineap]

OH and CA both have laws on the books against creating (hidden compartment) or operating a vehicle with a hidden compartment if it's intended for something illegal. Drugs and guns is the common justification, but I wonder what would happen if you had say 15k in cash in a compartment.

[smrtinsert]

Dont. Excessive free cash is very typically seized.

[djrogers]

I don’t think we have enough data to say it’s ‘very typically seized’ - certainly it is at times, and in egregious and outrageous fashion, but I don’t think ‘very typically’ is accurate.

I personally have on many occasions had well in excess of 10,000 on my person and have never had it seized.

[lostcolony]

And you were pulled over, and it was discovered?

I mean, even if you were, that constitutes X data points, which is hardly representative.

[jessaustin]

Did police ever search you, find that cash, and not take it? Congratulations on your privilege. Lots of other people, including those without bank accounts or other means of moving their wealth around, have lost money this way.

[pc86]

More than $10k in cash is considered "evidence of criminal activity" in many jurisdictions.

It's one thing to have a few bank envelopes with $10k in cash and a withdrawal receipt in a zip lock bag or something that's pretty obviously non-criminal. It's another thing to get pulled over in a $90/day rental with $15k hidden under a blanket in the trunk. The latter will almost always end up getting seized.

[scoggs]

I hope, and if this applies to you maybe this will be a wake up call, nobody reading this walks around with lump sums of cash like this without a receipt from the ATM or bank teller. I hope not.

[URSpider94]

And how would that help? Playing policeman’s advocate, maybe you left half of what you just withdrew at home? How would you prove you were carrying the whole amount?

[fredgrott]

update, its now less than $5,000 and greater than $2,999...ever wonder why the debit/cc cards for poor can only have cash loaded on the card less than $2,999?