POLICE EXPLAIN SEIZURE OF CASH

Hoover police are defending their seizure of $87,000 from two Texas women
driving on Interstate 459 this month.

Some people are saying laws that allow police to seize money and property
with no proof of a crime are going too far.

Police Capt. Eddie Braden said people would understand why the money was
seized if they knew more about the situation, so he explained it further.

Officers on June 4 stopped two Hispanic women traveling south on I-459 for
driving too slowly. The women, ages 37 and 40, were in a rented 2002 Dodge
Intrepid with a Georgia tag and were driving slower than 40 mph, Braden said.

"They didn't want to pass the police car," he said.

Once they were stopped, the women acted suspiciously and had an appliance
box in their vehicle that was unusual for two women driving across the
country, Braden said. It was obvious the box had been opened and reglued,
he said.

Police asked for permission to search the car, and the women gave consent,
he said.

"We would never search anyone's car without probable cause, a search
warrant or consent to search," Braden said.

Police found the $87,000 inside the appliance, a dish warmer. The money was
wrapped in cellophane and sprinkled with powder a known technique to throw
off police dogs, Braden said. Despite the powder, a dog hit on the money,
which raised the possibility it had been around drug residue.

The women said the money was not theirs and claimed they didn't know it was
in the dish warmer, Braden said. They said they were paid several hundred
dollars to deliver an unknown package to two men in another Southeastern
state and were given the dish warmer to return.

Police gave the driver a traffic ticket for driving too slowly and
confiscated the $87,000, citing a federal law they say permits such seizure
if police encounter a large sum of cash that is unexplainable.

Hoover police said they notified the FBI, which contacts the women and
gives them or other interested parties a chance to prove the money was
obtained legitimately. If they can't, the federal government keeps 20
percent and Hoover keeps 80 percent, police said.

So far, no one has claimed the money, Braden said.

Some people criticized the law that allows such seizures.

"This totally upends our supposedly cherished innocent-until-proven-guilty
system, and it should terrify anyone," Center Point's Paul Hosier wrote in
a letter to The Birmingham News. "It's vexing and infuriating to think
people can have their property and assets seized from them under the
auspices of suspected criminal activity, yet be charged with no crime, then
be dared to come and prove it's indeed theirs," Hosier wrote.

Braden said the traffic stop was conducted as part of interstate
interdiction training being led by police in Villa Rica, Ga., who have
discovered $10 million in drugs and drug money in a year. "Our efforts were
well within the scope of the laws of the State of Alabama and within
federal statutes and the Constitution," Braden said.