Posted on 01/21/2015 8:46:40 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
Thirty years ago, the practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture was implemented by the federal government as a means of confiscating cash and assets, principally from drug dealers. But since 9/11, this method of punishing criminals has been used to literally steal billions in legally owned wealth from law abiding Americans.
In 2008, the Department of Justice began emphasis on that part of the Asset Forfeiture law called Equitable Sharing, a scheme whereby money confiscated from citizensusually by policewould be divided between state and federal governments. Legal permission for this extraordinary method of profit sharing was provided in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. And there has been a great deal to share as thousands of local and state police agencies have made more than 55,000 seizures of cash and property worth $3 billion.
But on Friday of last week, this despicable, government approved scheme of stealing wealth from the American people apparently came to an end as Attorney General Eric Holder barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or criminal charges.
Coach is Right published the article which follows in September of last year. It explains Equitable Sharing and the methods of those who took full advantage of its terms.
Police steal $100s of Millions from innocent Americans in Stop and Seize scams
After 9/11, the federal government called on police to become the eyes and ears of homeland security on Americas highways. But as this new, more aggressive agenda of seeking out suspicious individuals was embraced by officers as part of their interdiction training by the federal government, their policing behavior turned out to be worlds removed from the historically reassuring promise to protect and serve the American public.
For law enforcement officers throughout the nation were...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
I thought the US Constitution would have barred that. Guess I missed civics class that day.
Eric Holder would not give up a proven means of wealth redistribution unless he had something else in mind.
Something "better".
And the THUG in D.C. who targeted you is completely untraceable.
He just sends the trumped up charges to the local cops to collect the booty and send him his cut.
Find the agencies responsible, and fire the top 4 layers.
(of course, I’d rather close the agency!)
He just wants to be the one stealing.
Seriously, while I am happy there are less thieves, the reason he is doing this is consolidation of power to Washington. It has nothing to do with ending abuse of this very bad law.
My guess is that Holder’s real objection is not to the theft, but rather having to share the power to steal with state and local governments.
Kind of like when the government went after the mafia in the early to mid 80s.
Government always wants the exclusive monopoly on theft.
By the way I wouldn’t count on this action protecting anyone from having their property stolen by the police.
Consent to searches at your own risk.
Thumbs up on your comment.
You beat me to it:-)
Correct. Notice he didn't stop the practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture on the federal level.
Federal police are of course still free to do so.
As always, follow the money. Holder is not opposed to the federal government seizing assets. He simply does not want to share the booty with state and local police.
What has changed is that the Feds now have a para-military enforcement arm for every agency, right down to the department of education. They used to need local LEO’s to provide the muscle to steal from the citizenry so they cut them in on the profits. Now that the Feds have sufficient numbers of jack boots to steal what they want, why bother sharing with the local jackboots?
SCOTUS upheld this action saying that people could obtain their money back, ignoring the legal obstacles in place.
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