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MEMPHIS. On a summer afternoon in Memphis last year, on his way to work, Ralph Jones saw a woman on the sidewalk waving at him. Thinking she was in trouble or needed a ride, Mr. Jones said, he stopped.
According to Mr. Jones, after a brief conversation in which she tried to lure him to a nearby motel, he left, but was soon stopped by the police and pulled from the truck. The 70-year-old welder said that, with only 86 cents in his pocket, he had neither the intention nor the money to molest a prostitute, as the officers claimed.
His protests came to nothing. Mr. Jones was cited and his truck, along with the expensive tools inside, was confiscated. The charges were eventually dropped, but the truck and its work equipment remained in the city’s impound lot for six weeks when prosecutors finally agreed to return them in exchange for a $750 fee.
“It’s nothing more than a racket,” said Mr. Jones.
Police departments across the country have long used asset forfeiture laws to confiscate property believed to be linked to criminal activity, a tactic designed to deprive offenders of ill-gotten gains, deter future crime and, along the way, ensure lucrative source of income for the police. departments.
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