http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/23/2373.asp

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A unanimous three-judge panel found that Chicago Police violated the
federal Constitution in seizing automobiles without offering any
opportunity for the accused to challenge the move for up to six months.
This finding overturned a 1994 decision, Jones v. Takaki, in which the
court sided with Chicago police officers who had taken Marcy Jones' 1990
Chevrolet Camaro and held it for fifty days without ever finding any
drugs or filing any criminal charges against Jones. Jones unsuccessfully
argued she had a right to a prompt hearing.

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Under Illinois law, vehicles and cash can be permanently confiscated by
law enforcement as long as an officer asserts probable cause that it was
involved in a drug crime.

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Under the statute, law enforcement agencies have a financial incentive
to initiate seizures, as they are allowed in many cases to keep either
the cars themselves or a significant portion of the proceeds from
vehicle auctions. In Madison County, for example, State Attorney Bill
Mudge is driving a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer seized from a man accused of
drunk driving.

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But this *never* happens and those laws and court decisions don't
exist... I'm just a 'paranoid tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist
kook'. Note: there is no real change in the government taking property,
only in the speed of it.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2008/us-chicago.pdf