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Posted on 08/17/2013 1:41:06 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The case highlights the dangers of marrying policing and profit. “The profit incentive is so incredibly dangerous,” said Scott Bullock, legal counsel for the libertarian-oriented Institute for Justice, which is representing the Jalalis. He told me that officials “set aside policy goals and go after the money,” especially in tough budgetary times.
The case also illustrates the inherent problems when a nation’s laws are so contradictory and confusing that well-meaning people can’t easily follow them.
One can debate medical-marijuana law. It’s an unsettled matter that is winding its way through the courts. Even the federal prosecutor handling the case admitted as much in a December hearing explaining how his office got involved: “Our cities are being overrun with this issue. They [Anaheim officials] can’t really decide what the state law is and how it’s going to apply. So, U.S. government, can you step in and help us out?”
But in going to the feds, city officials ignored California’s crystal-clear civil-forfeiture law, which only allows cities to seek the forfeiture of property if it is tied to a criminal conviction. Anaheim didn’t seek clarity from the federal government. It sought a federal end-run that applies a looser standard and allows the city to keep 80 percent of the proceeds. This was about profits, not legal clarity.
Fair-minded officials would try to sort through the law and give its citizens a reasonable chance to comply with it. Instead city and federal officials saw the confusion as a chance to backfill their budgets. Perhaps the word “revenuers” isn’t strong enough to apply to those who would use government power to take away the property of law-abiding citizens.
We were warned that the asset forfiture laws would eventually become used as a weapon in pursuit of more money for the government to spend. With the Great Recession leaving governments financially strapped, look for more abuse of these laws in the coming years if it isn’t repealed.
The DEA and the US Marshal Service thank you for your contribution. I wonder what an audit of the forfeiture / seizure programs might reveal if you ran the VINs and serial numbers of all the luxury vehicles, boats, and aircraft to see whose hands they ended up in. I bet there would be a lot of ‘splainin’ to do with officials ducking and running for cover.
And then the policy stays in place even in good times because these LEOs now have a secondary source of revenue without going through those pesky hoops of bureaucracy! Forfeiture is administrative theft as opposed to judicial declaration.
Privatizing prisons, law enforcement, photo / speed cameras will not always serve us, and instead it may lead to those with such authority coming to take advantage of what is yours for their profit, just as Blackwater did in Katrina with firearms.
We need government by and of the people that is responsive and honest and the people need the right to challenge any theft of property.
Simple way to fix that. Real simple.
Check out the picture in post # 6.
The SCOTUS said the government can take away your house for a 7-Eleven if it’d pay more taxes than you do.
It was one of the many BAD decisions from the so-called High Court
It would be bad enough if every one was true blue, but about the only people who seek government jobs are most likely thieves in the first place.
Simple way to fix that. Real simple.
Perhaps the word “revenuers” isn’t strong enough to apply to those who would use government power to take away the property of law-abiding citizens.
No, i don,t think revenuers would be the word, i would call them whores.
With a whore there is an exchange of services for something perceived as valuable.
Asset forfeiture all too often is simple fraud and extortion.
With a whore there is an exchange of services for something perceived as valuable.
Asset forfeiture all too often is simple fraud and extortion.
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