Dutch Police to ‘Undress’ Youths Wearing Clothes Deemed Too Expensive for Them
29th January 2018
Police in the Dutch city of Rotterdam have launched a new pilot programme which will see them confiscating expensive clothing and jewellery from young people if they look too poor to own them.
Officers say the scheme will see them target younger men in designer clothes they seem unlikely to be able to afford legally – if it is not clear how the person paid for it, it will be confiscated.
The idea is to deter criminality by sending a signal that the men will not be able to hang onto their ill-gotten gains.
Taking the medieval notion of sumptuary laws into the new millennium.
Of course, in the U.S. it’s called ‘civil asset forfeiture’ and is a less informal process — but still pretty informal.