U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

PROFIT-MOTIVATED POLICING: SEIZURE LAWS AND POLICE MANAGEMENT

NCJ Number
142433
Author(s)
R N Holden
Date Published
Unknown
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Civil forfeiture laws were passed in order to deprive criminals of the profits of illegal activity and to provide law enforcement with more resources to better enforce drug laws. However, there are several potential areas of police management problems in shifting away from a service orientation toward a profit motivation.
Abstract
There are several administrative issue to consider with regard to profit-motivated policing. These include the ability of elected officials (external controls) to supervise use of police resources, the loss the governmental or citizen ability to influence police priorities, and the inadequacy of internal police controls to monitor and regulate the activities of an agency whose mission and resource allocation process have been changed. In addition, there are several management issues that must be addressed: property management, police arrogance, decision making in terms of questionable seizures, and corruption. 14 references