Dallas Police Seized an Airline Passenger's Cash. New Information Only Makes Their Case Weaker.Police seized more than $100,000 in cash from a 25-year-old Chicago woman for not correctly describing what her suitcase looked like.
By Joe Lancaster
February 18, 2022
In December, Dallas police officers at the city's Love Field Airport seized a passenger's luggage based on an alert from a drug dog. There were no drugs in the bag, but they did find more than $106,000 cash wrapped in bubble wrap. The police seized the cash through asset forfeiture, but would not elaborate further on why the cash was seized or what the traveler was suspected of.
Now, further information has been released, which raises additional questions about the police department's story.
As Reason detailed at the time, there is no law regarding how much money a person can carry on a domestic flight. But under civil asset forfeiture, a law enforcement agency need only allege that the cash could have been used for criminal activity. In Texas, the standard of proof for seizing someone's cash or other property is simply a preponderance of the evidence, whereas to get the cash or property back, the owner would have to go to court to prove that they were not involved in criminal activity. Unless the property is returned, the police can keep a substantial portion of the proceeds.
This week, Dallas' local CBS affiliate obtained the police report related to the incident, in which the officers explained why they chose to ultimately seize the cash. After the drug-sniffing dog alerted them to a suitcase, police determined that since the bag was "destined for a known source city [Chicago] for the exportation of narcotics," then that was sufficient to search it. The detective conducting the search indicated "smelling the odor of marijuana," though the cash and some packing material were the suitcase's only contents.
Detectives located the traveler, a 25-year-old woman, and questioned her about the bag. They reported that she misidentified the suitcase as gray, rather than black, and that her description of the locking mechanism was inaccurate. They further asked if she was transporting cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine, to which she answered that she was not. When they asked if she was transporting marijuana, according to the affiliate's news story, "police noted she hesitated and her eyes darted to the left" before saying no. When they asked if she was carrying a lot of cash, she again hesitated and glanced to the left before saying that no, she had about $20,000, which she said was from the sale of a house, and some clothes.
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What stands out in that description is the distinct absence of a crime.* * *
Source:
https://reason.com/2022/02/18/dallas-police-seized-an-airline-passengers-cash-new-information-only-makes-their-case-weaker/?itm_source=parsely-api
