Chicago police, other agencies take in millions by seizing cars, cash even without an arrest or conviction

Courtroom 1707 at the Daley Center. People steadily stream in, hoping they'll end up able to hold onto what's often their most valuable possession: a car.

Most are Black or Latino. Most don’t have lawyers. And many are trying to stop the government from taking their vehicles for good.

Every year, the Chicago Police Department and other law enforcement agencies across Illinois seize thousands of cars, along with piles of cash and other property. Prosecutors say the seized assets are tied to crimes that range from drug offenses to traffic violations — and occasionally violent acts.

The seizures bring in millions of dollars for law enforcement.

But critics say the Illinois civil asset forfeiture system flips on its head a foundational rule of American justice: You're innocent until proven guilty.

Under Illinois law, though, the police can seize property based on suspicion alone — even if the owner is never arrested, never charged with any crime, never convicted.

A 2023 report from the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, an advocacy group, called for Illinois to scrap civil asset forfeitures, arguing that the system is fundamentally unfair.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has questioned the constitutionality of civil asset forfeiture, saying, "Even innocent owners can wait for months or years for forfeiture proceedings to play out.”

State lawmakers have passed modest reforms over the past decade, shifting the burden onto the government to prove that property seized is tied to crime and requiring agencies to provide some details on what they seize and how they spend it.

Supporters, though, say the system works and should be kept in place.

“I am 100% for this,” says Tom Weitzel, retired chief of the Riverside police department. “Activists are taking a handful of cases and exploiting them for political gain as if they represent the whole system. They don’t.”

Inside ‘forfeiture court’

To get a closeup look at how the system works, we went to the Daley Center, where Courtroom 1707 is Ground Zero for forfeitures in Cook County.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, dozens of people — most of them appearing on screen via Zoom — respond to lawsuits filed by prosecutors seeking to keep their property. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the trials that stem from these cases are held.

There are a lot of them. Last year, more than 3,100 forfeiture cases were filed in Cook County.

In court, the judges walk people through the maze of legal steps. You file a claim, enter an appearance, submit an answer.

For those without lawyers, though, the paperwork can be overwhelming.

Supporters of a bill being considered in Springfield say they're aiming to streamline the system by allowing prosecutors to send forfeiture notices by email instead of regular mail.

Some defense lawyers say they worry that those emailed notices could wind up buried in spam folders.

Missing one can be devastating. If people fail to respond within 45 days, a judge can order their property forfeited by default.

Even people who don’t technically own their cars — they bought them but are still paying off their car loans — can see their credit take a big hit if a vehicle is taken.

Sometimes, judges return cars temporarily when the owners argue that a seizure is causing hardship because they can’t get to work or school.

Others file what’s known as an “innocent owner” defense, claiming that someone else — often a relative — was driving their vehicle.

For many people navigating the system alone, it’s a lot to absorb and often confusing.

Waiting a year for $5,000

Two men appeared in court recently trying to recover about $5,000 each that Chicago police officers took from them after a traffic stop in which officers found a small amount of cannabis. The men say they’re auto dealers and were carrying the cash to buy a vehicle. They told a judge the misdemeanor drug charges against them were dismissed.

But their forfeiture case is still dragging on.

In early March, the officer involved failed to appear in court. That prompted a delay until late April.

The men — who said they couldn’t afford a lawyer because his fee would be more than what they're trying to get back — have now been waiting nearly a year.

“This thing just keeps dragging on with no end in sight,” says one, speaking on the condition of not being named.

One man’s win

Every once in a while, someone scores a victory.

Wynton Kyle Dozier, 40, got his 2014 Ford Fusion back on March 5 when prosecutors dropped his forfeiture case.

Chicago police officers had arrested Dozier the day after Christmas in 2024 after stopping him for failing to use a turn signal. Officers said they found drugs in the car.

In August, a judge threw out the criminal case, ruling the search was illegal.

Dozier hired a lawyer to fight the criminal charges, but he handled the forfeiture case on his own. It took more than eight months to recover his car, which prosecutors valued at $4,150.

“They just want you to give up and take your things for free,” Dozier says.

He says he never understood why he had to fight two legal battles — one for his freedom and another for his car.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he says.

Another man, Maurice Walker, 63, decided to make a deal. His 2013 Cadillac, valued at $2,800, was seized in Markham after police in the suburb stopped him last April for running a red light. He was arrested for driving on a license suspended because of a DUI, a charge prosecutors dropped last July.

Complicating his case, prosecutors had released his Cadillac CTS to a woman who said she needed the car, claiming a hardship.

At a recent forfeiture hearing, Walker was confused why he still needed to fight to get his car back.

“My case was dismissed,” he told the judge. “How do I owe you anything? The only thing left is them trying to take my car.”

A prosecutor responded: “The criminal case don’t mean nothing.”

The judge explained the legal differences between a criminal case and a civil forfeiture case.

After huddling with the prosecutor, Walker agreed to give the police $1,050 for fees for towing and storing his car.

The judge told Walker he wouldn’t have to go to trial to fight for his car as long as he pays up by May.

“I’m OK with that,” Walker replied. “Thank you, judge.”

Millions to Chicago police

How often property owners win or lose isn't clear. Those numbers aren't reported to the Illinois State Police.

The money involved is easier to trace. Under state law, proceeds from seized cash and auctioned property are distributed by the state police. The seizing agency gets 65%, the local state’s attorney’s office 12.5%, appellate prosecutors 12.5%, and the state police 10% for administering the program.

According to the latest report from the state police, reflecting 2024 seizures, the Chicago Police Department took in $9.4 million in assets that year — including 962 vehicles worth more than $7.7 million, plus cash. Every other law enforcement agency in Illinois combined reported seizing 595 vehicles.

A Chicago police spokesman says civil asset forfeiture "plays an important role in disrupting organized criminal networks," saying the money goes toward “strengthening public safety."

Under a law that took effect Jan. 1, the state police will collect even more information from police agencies, including the property owner's race, sex, age and ZIP code as well as more data about the spending of forfeiture money, including purchases of surveillance technology.

A tool — or abuse?

Despite the big money involved, Weitzel, the former Riverside police chief, rejects the idea that civil asset forfeiture is a money grab.

Forfeiture is “one of the few tools that weakens criminal networks financially, not just through arrests,” Weitzel says.

He says strict controls governed how his department seized and spent forfeiture funds.

But critics say the system needs changes. Some point to Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bipartisan legislation in 2019 largely banning police from forfeiting property worth $50,000 or less without a criminal conviction. Lawmakers later modified the law to allow forfeitures over $20,000 at airports without a conviction.

If that law applied in Illinois, lots of the civil asset forfeiture cases that now go through Courtroom 1707 would never be filed.

Chicago attorney Stephen Komie, who has handled forfeiture cases for decades, says Illinois should limit what prosecutors can take — or go even further, abolishing the system.

He says the system echoes abuses that helped spark the Revolutionary War.

“This is one of the worst abuses of King George that’s been written into our law,” Komie says. “It violates principles this country was founded on.”