Money from civil asset forfeiture, which is the police seizure of property belonging to people suspected of involvement in a crime, accounts for billions of dollars collected by agencies at local, state and federal levels each year. The seizure is often legal whether or not the person is found guilty of a crime.
A significant portion of these funds goes directly to law enforcement, including the police and prosecutors who decided to take the assets in the first place. As of 2020, in 32 states, between 80% and 100% of forfeiture proceeds end up in coffers controlled by law enforcement. The same is true at the federal level.
Since this money has less oversight than budgets set by legislatures, law enforcement has used it for expenses like expensive vehicles and high-end dining and travel. In a sample of 13 states, law enforcement spent almost none of the money on victims.