Court ruling limits law enforcement property seizures

Property seizures made by law enforcement agencies. It’s been a controversial topic over the years with some crime suspects claiming the power has been abused.

But just last week – the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling said that there must be limits in what police or federal agents can take from you. It all stemmed from a case in Indiana where police seized a suspect’s $40,000 car after he sold $200 worth of heroin to undercover officers. The supreme court ruled it unfair and unjust.

It’s called civil asset forfeiture. It’s the term we use when police and other law enforcement agencies seize items from criminals often selling them with the proceeds going back into the police budget. It’s no stranger to Colorado.

Denver police seized a 2013 Tesla model S60. The car worth an estimated $30,000. Now, seizures like this may be harder to justify after the supreme court made a ruling to limit the seizure of cash, cars, and other private property. As for it’s impact in southern Colorado. Lieutenant Wes Walter with the Teller County Sheriff’s Office says it’s not going to impact their agency. Adding they rarely do those types of seizures. “In the past year we did $3,300 it was a cash seizure,” says Walter, “The year prior I don’t believe we had any seizures that occurred.”

We also reached out to the Colorado Springs Police Department and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. Both agree the ruling won’t impact them. In a statement from Lieutenant Howard Black of the CSPD, “This ruling doesn’t change how we (CSPD) do business–unless we impose excessive fines then it will be an issue.”

However, Sergeant Frank Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department says, “it might be premature to determine how this supreme court decision will affect us,” adding “it will have a minimal effect.”

The big reason for the minimal impact is because Colorado was already ahead in addressing the issue. Former governor John Hickenlooper signed a bill in 2017 that limited these types of law enforcement seizures in our state.