Among 47 traffic stops, police arrested 11 people and towed 10 vehicles. Some vehicles were lost to asset forfeiture, meaning the drivers lost the car permanently by participating in street racing. Most takeovers were broken up in minutes, police said in a news release.
I’m pretty unhappy with the whole idea of civil asset forfeiture.
Just the same, if anyone deserves it, it’s these dummies. The police department was even warning the public that they would be out there doing this. The whole event was a stupid one.
The article oversells it, Oregon law only allows forfeiture on conviction.
So the vehicles are impounded for now, but likely will be forfeit eventually.
I don’t agree with things like forfeiture of assets suspected to be bought using the proceeds of a crime, like seizing the house and assets of a suspected drug dealer or something because they must have bought it using cash from selling drugs.
However I have no problem seizing assets that are actively being used in a crime.
Take the cars of people street racing or driving drunk, just as you would take the guns of murderers and people performing armed robbery.