Over the past few months, civil asset forfeiture has made national headlines.

Thanks to hard work by folks at the Heritage Foundation, Washington Post, and journalists like Radley Balko, this corrupt police practice has been brought to the forefront of the debate on how the government erodes our civil liberties.

Thankfully for us, some politicians have taken notice and decided to make some positive changes.

A few weeks ago, the D.C. City Council passed a measure that limits law enforcement’s incentive to engage in civil asset forfeiture. They have informed the police department that forfeiture money will now be directed to the city’s general fund.

A recent Reuters article about the measure highlighted the fact that 90 percent of the time, forfeitures occur without actually charging an individual for a crime.

It has been estimated that up to 90 percent of civil forfeitures occur without a criminal charge, according to the bill’s author, City Council member Tommy Wells. He also said the law wrongfully gave police a financial incentive to make seizures.

While the D.C. measure doesn’t go far enough — civil asset forfeiture should be banned altogether — it is a step in the right direction. The District’s neighbor to the south, Virginia, is also considering a measure that would require an individual to be convicted of a crime before police keep their property.

This measure is being championed by Virginia State Delegate Mark Cole. He hopes to have this bill introduced for discussion in the 2015 legislative session.

Let’s hope that state legislatures across the country move in the right direction and end this corrupt practice. It’s time to start holding police departments accountable for their gross disregard of individual liberty and right to private property.

Frederick Bastiat said that men become rebellious then whey suffer injustice at the hands of the corrupt laws.

Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter — by peaceful or revolutionary means — into the making of laws.

Though this author isn’t advocating for outright rebellion, it is of paramount importance that citizens hold their officials accountable and demand that we put an end to civil asset forfeiture.