Minnesota Law Enforcement Asset Seizures Up Last Year

By Alyssa Chen, Minnesota Reformer

October 13, 2025

Minnesota law enforcement agencies seized and kept over $6 million in cash, vehicles and other property in 2024, according to the state auditor’s most recent asset forfeiture report. That’s 14% more than in 2023.

The Minneapolis Police Department netted almost three times as much — $469,566 compared to $157,375 — from state forfeitures in 2024 compared to 2023.

In many cases, Minnesota law enforcement agencies took the valuables from people who had yet to be convicted of a crime but are suspected of a crime, which is legal under current law.

The American Civil Liberties Union and libertarian organization Institute for Justice say the practice incentivizes “policing for profit” because agencies keep proceeds from forfeitures. Meanwhile, the prohibitively expensive process of challenging an asset seizure typically means the person walks away.

Case in point: In 2024, over 88% of the two most common types of forfeitures — those relating to DUI and controlled substance cases — proceeded without legal dispute, according to the auditor’s report. In other words, the vast majority of Minnesotans who get their property seized walk away from their property instead of challenging a forfeiture.

Among the more notorious instances of forfeiture abuse in recent Minnesota history was the Metro Gang Strike Force, a Twin Cities law enforcement unit that shut down in 2009 after investigations revealed they were illegally seizing property to take home or even use to fund a trip to Hawaii. The scandal spurred major forfeiture reform in 2010 that expanded reporting requirements, among other measures, though the total value of forfeitures continued to rise for years after.

More recently, a 2021 forfeiture reform further strengthened reporting requirements and prohibited law enforcement agencies from seizing less than $1,500 in cash — unless there’s probable cause to believe the money was involved in buying drugs.

Forfeitures pursued through state law have dropped significantly since the 2021 reform, from nearly $11 million in 2021 to $5.5 million in 2024.

“The bipartisan forfeiture legislation passed in 2021 is doing what it was meant to do — restore civil liberties and focus on the most serious cases,” Auditor Julie Blaha said in a release.

Through “equitable sharing,” however, state agencies can receive money from federal forfeitures that they participate in. And those forfeitures have increased from 2023.

The 2021 state reform also expanded what agencies had to report on how they spend their forfeiture money, though the expenditure categories are broad. For example, in 2024, the Minneapolis Police Department spent over $500,000 of their forfeiture gains on “capital expenditures,” which a spokesperson said in an email was used to buy two vehicles, a 2024 Chevrolet Suburban and a 2024 Ford Transit 350 Cargo Van.

The ACLU and the Institute for Justice advocate replacing civil and criminal forfeitures with a single criminal forfeiture process, where forfeiture would be part of a criminal conviction. Institute for Justice published a study showing that getting rid of civil forfeiture in New Mexico didn’t increase crime, as law enforcement said it would.

Kelsey O’Callaghan published a recent Mitchell Hamline law review article showing that civil forfeitures disproportionately target communities of color in South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and other states. Minnesota does not currently collect demographic information on forfeitures.

“I think [criminal forfeiture is] a way better way to go about forfeiture so that we’re not infringing upon people’s due process and constitutional rights,” O’Callaghan told the Reformer.

The 2021 Minnesota reform did not address the underlying problem — that the majority of Minnesotans walk away from their property without engaging in the legal process, said Lee McGrath, a retired attorney formerly at the Institute for Justice.

One reason they walk away: People can only get access to a public defender for criminal cases — not civil cases.

“You have a problem with access to justice issues because the dollar amounts are important to the individual but too small to invest or expend to hire a lawyer to help you get back,” McGrath said.

The Minnesota County Attorney’s Association maintains that getting rid of civil forfeitures altogether would be a mistake. Bob Small, who was part of the 2021 reform working group, said that civil forfeiture upholds due process rights as is: “There’s plenty of notice and there’s plenty of opportunity to be heard.”

The issue crosses party lines: The 2021 reform included both Republican and Democrat lawmakers as authors, which is becoming atypical for contentious issues at the polarized Legislature.

“If gridlock is going to be the name of the game in the next few years, I think the profile of forfeiture reform will rise as one of the few issues that can actually move,” said Munira Mohamed, a policy associate at the ACLU.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..