Double Duty Dragnets

A few weeks back, I emphasized that the dragnet the government admitted to using in the Shantia Hassanshahi case (and issued a narrow claim to have shut down) was a drug database. That is, a dragnet purportedly created to track drug trafficking had been used to police sanctions.

Yesterday, the WSJ broke the story revealed by documents liberated by an ACLU FOIA. One point made in both hasn’t received enough emphasis. A 2009 document revealed that asset forfeiture was one of the primary goals of the program.

The Pilot National LPR Initiative has received enormous support from all several government and law enforcement entities and multiple request have been made to connect LPR devices from state and local law enforcement. In anticipation of the Pilot National LPR Initiative being utilized by all of DEA as well as Federal, State, and Local law enforcement throughout the United States, we must insure we can collect, manage, and maintain to the highest standards all data from the system as well as every other aspect of the LPR system. DEA has designed this program to assist with locating, identifying, and seizing bulk currency, guns, and other illicit contraband moving along the southwest border and throughout the United States. With that said, we want to insure we can collect and manage all the data and IT responsibilities that will come with the work to insure the program meets its goals, of which asset forfeiture is primary.

Funny. This passage doesn’t mention drugs at all. On the contrary, this is about seizing things of value — not drugs — so the law enforcement agency can profit.