These roving teams of drug cops are often entirely funded with grants and through asset forfeiture, and usually don't report to any single police agency.
One example of cops using asset forfeiture aggressively comes from a report by a Fitchburg, Massachusetts, newspaper on local motel owner Russell Caswell, who battled the government for three years over his right to keep his own motel.
In its latest report on civil forfeiture laws, the Institute gives Oklahoma a D-minus grade, citing poor protections for property owners, insufficient transparency regarding law enforcement's use of forfeiture funds and a high monetary incentive for police and prosecutors to abuse the process.
But due to lax reporting standards around civil forfeiture, the extent of those benefits is unclear, the report found.
Similar stories have been reported along other forfeiture corridors across the country.
Previous reporting on civil forfeiture abuse indeed suggests that this sort of extortive behavior is commonplace.
It also provides training and tracks law enforcement data on racial profiling, identity theft and asset forfeiture, and it investigates departments that report bad data and revokes the licenses of officers who commit crimes.
"As a result," the report says, "all federal forfeiture revenue can go back to the very agencies charged with enforcing the law, giving them a financial stake in forfeiture efforts".
Additionally, law enforcement agencies will be required to report detailed information about forfeitures, including receipts and expenditures, which will allow the state to track the value of seizures and how that money is ultimately spent.
Congress has considered legislation to reform civil forfeiture in recent years, and the latest report appeared to add some urgency to that effort. .
