CHIACAGO’S WAR ON THE POOR: Poor Neighborhoods Hit Hardest by Asset Forfeiture in Chicago, Data Shows.

Law enforcement in Cook County, which includes Chicago, seized items from residents ranging from a cashier’s check for 34 cents to a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost with an estimated value of more than $200,000. They also seized Xbox controllers, televisions, nunchucks, 12 cans of peas, a pair of rhinestone cufflinks, and a bayonet.

Altogether, police in Cook County performed 23,065 seizures between 2012 and 2017 using asset forfeiture, including 5,939 vehicles. Chevrolet Impalas, among the most popular rental cars in the U.S., were the model most often seized. About three-quarters of all seizures occurred in Chicago. The average estimated value of a seizure was $4,553, while the median value was $1,049. About three-quarters of all seizures were cash, not property.

Lucy Parsons Labs, a police accountability nonprofit in Chicago, obtained the data from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) through a public records request and provided them to Reason. The data are unique because they include not just when and what police seized, but addresses of where those seizures occurred.

Civil liberties groups have often claimed asset forfeiture disproportionately impacts poor and minority communities.

Why are Democrat-run cities such cesspits of predation against those who are least able to fight back?