This isn't comparable to pat-downs. Actually, I have a problem with Terry stops - where a cop can basically pat down anyone on the street he sees.

But a pat down where a cop has stopped someone he has probably cause to believe committed a crime is entirely different.

The pat down is being done because a crime was committed. That's comparable to criminal forfeiture, where the government actually has to prove someone committed a crime in order to take their property.

The whole basis of this law is take property from people without proving them guilty of any crime. It's not just ripe for abuse, it's designed for abuse - for getting people the police can't convict of any crime. If you get patted down, then you haven't lost anything after it's over.

And it's not just small towns like Tenaha, but whole states like Indiana (where police forces find loopholes to keep the funds seized instead of sending them to public schools as required in the law, and give private attorneys commissions for prosecuting civil forfeiture cases [that is unconstitutional].)

Letting police seize the property of suspected - and never convicted or even charged - drug dealers is what lead to the abuses in Tenaha.

Everyone, even alleged criminals, deserves to hold on to their allegedly ill-gotten property at least until proven guilty of a crime. Legally, how can that not be police abuse? How can police seizing property of people not convicted of anything - and therefore innocent under the law - for their own benefit not be an abuse?

CR