This policy adjustment is in regard to a federal program that shared the seized proceeds with the state and local police that made the seizures using federal laws.
That is, the laws that were 'suspected' broken were federal laws, and properly the seized goods belonged to the feds. The feds then shared a large portion of that back to the state and local cops. They will no longer do so.
This removes a great deal of the incentive for locals to use federal laws for seizures.
Many states require seizures go into the state general fund, so there's no incentive there for cops to overstep, at least not financial incentives.
So in theory this should result in a pretty big reduction in unwarranted seizures.
That is, the laws that were 'suspected' broken were federal laws, and properly the seized goods belonged to the feds. The feds then shared a large portion of that back to the state and local cops. They will no longer do so.
This removes a great deal of the incentive for locals to use federal laws for seizures.
Many states require seizures go into the state general fund, so there's no incentive there for cops to overstep, at least not financial incentives.
So in theory this should result in a pretty big reduction in unwarranted seizures.