Dutch Approach To Asset Forfeiture Will Literally Take The Clothes Off Pedestrians' Backs

from the take-'em-right-off dept

We've long complained about civil asset forfeiture in the United States. Law enforcement agencies, thanks to a series of perverse incentives, have grown to love taking people's property (usually cash) without charging them for crimes. The excuse is that lifting a few thousand dollars from some random person somehow chips away at drug cartels located overseas.

It would seem to be more crippling if criminal charges were pursued and suspects interrogated, jailed, and flipped. But law enforcement has no time for that, not when a pile of cash is only a few pieces of paperwork away from changing ownership.

They're taking asset forfeiture to a whole new level over in the Netherlands. Dutch cops will now be taking the clothes off people's back if they "suspect" the clothing might be out of the spending range of the person wearing it. (h/t Charles C.W. Cooke)

Police in the Dutch city of Rotterdam have launched a new pilot programme which will see them confiscating expensive clothing and jewellery from young people if they look too poor to own them. Officers say the scheme will see them target younger men in designer clothes they seem unlikely to be able to afford legally – if it is not clear how the person paid for it, it will be confiscated. The idea is to deter criminality by sending a signal that the men will not be able to hang onto their ill-gotten gains.

The police say they'll be able to make quick determinations about the legality of… um… clothing by accosting well-dressed youngsters. Presumably, no one will be carrying receipts. The police have used the term "undress" but swear they'll be focused on items that won't leave their former owners in a state of undress (watches are mentioned). Then again, the police also say they'll be packing clothes to hand out to people they've disrobed for dressing too richly, so it's obvious it won't just be watches being watched.

What's propelling this new spin on asset forfeiture? Apparently, it's some form of disrespect Dutch police want to shut down.

Police Chief said the young men targeted often have no income and are already in debt from fines for previous convictions but wearing expensive clothing. This “undermines the rule of law” which sends “a completely false signal to local residents”, he explained.

The law already gives Dutch police permission to forfeit items procured with criminal funds. Over the last decade, the police have expanded these programs to go far beyond perceived kingpins to reach street hassle levels. Dutch law enforcement have been performing "Rolex checks" on young people for three years now, but the recent expansion into Rotterdam (it originated in Amsterdam), coupled with inflammatory "undress them on the street" comments from the Rotterdam police chief, has resulted in a new wave of backlash.

The police refuse to say how they'll determine rightful ownership of clothing/watches/jewelry they wish to seize. Obviously, the specifics would let "criminals" know what receipts to carry, but also suggests they're not entirely sure how they're going to carry this out either. Of course, the method matters less to the police. They don't have to prove anything. All they have to find is a lack of proof of legitimate ownership. The burden is completely upon those walking around wearing items cops subjectively feel they can't afford. Given the way this deck is stacked, citizens may as well just hand over "expensive" items the moment an officer approaches them. Why go through all the extra hassle if it's not going to change anything?

The police chief has responded to the backlash by blaming the media and the citizens for "rushing ahead" without knowing all the facts. This is a typical response, one that should be greeted with the obvious point that most of the facts came directly from from the police chief, i.e., the threat to "undress" people in public to rebuild "respect" for the "rule of law." Those facts are ugly and indisputable. And they're all attributable to Rotterdam Police Chief Frank Depauuw. He can't blame an extremely awful forfeiture program on all the people who won't be actively participating in it. The facts will continue to develop, but they're never going to reach the point where this program looks like anything but a gross misuse of power.

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Filed Under: asset forfeiture, expensive clothing, law enforcement, netherlands