Michigan
Related: About this forumCop Fights to Keep His Secret Mercenary Army
300 residents. 100 reservist cops who paid handsomely for their badges. One embattled police chief, trying to hide the names of his pay-for-play deputies. Welcome to Oakley, MI.
Oakley is a hamlet barely the size of a gnat on a Michigan map, but it has a cyclopean police problem. The 300 person town is farming out its law enforcement to 100 wealthy, mostly anonymous out-of-towners who pay big money to become reservist copscomplete with bulletproof vests and special gun permits. And while outrage has mounted over Oakleys glut of faceless reservists, the top cop there continues to lord over a pay-to-play-police racket.
Now, state lawmakers and the feds are closing in with new laws and investigations focusing on towns cop kingmaker to force him to out his secret posse.
But Oakley Police Chief Robert Reznick said theres no way hell give up the names. ISIS, he claimed, maybe after his auxiliary police force. These are brutal people who absolutely have no value of life, Reznick told me. Whether or not its far-fetched doesnt matter. Why would you want to put them in harms way?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/21/cop-fights-to-keep-his-secret-mercenary-army.html
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Evidently Michigan is nearly (but not quite) the worst state for it.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)On the other hand, law enforcement receives all proceeds of civil forfeiture to enhance law enforcement efforts, creating an incentive to pursue forfeiture more vigorously than combating other criminal activity. As the numbers below indicate, multi-jurisdictional task forces work extensively with district attorneys and police departments to forfeit property, resulting in more than $149 million in total forfeiture revenue from 2001 to 2008.
http://www.ij.org/asset-forfeiture-report-michigan
North Dakota B+
Vermont B
Connecticut C+
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Tennessee D
Washington D
Georgia D-
Michigan D-
Texas D-
Virginia D-
West Virginia D-
http://www.ij.org/asset-forfeiture-report-grade-detail