Judge tosses out vehicle seizure law

Albuquerque Journal ^ | July 30, 2018 | Ryan Boetel

[MeganC]

No link as the source, I believe, prohibits direct links from FR.

[Roccus]

The only possible good cops on the APD are the ones who never performed one of these illegal seizure/robberies.

Of course, those "good" cops had no knowledge whatever of the "illegal seizure/robberies" committed by the other LEOs because if they DID know, they would have taken action to prevent those crimes and protect the public.

[IYAS9YAS]

There aren’t 57 States, there are 59. Remember, One doesn’t campaign in Alaska or Hawall

Well, if we're picking nits, then there are 60, because he had one left to go after visiting 57, and he wasn't allowed by his campaign staff to go to AK or HI...

[cuban leaf]

This is why I use a dash cam. :)

There are a lot of youtube videos now of cops acting badly. In one case that comes to mind, an oncoming cop swerved into a guys lane, causing the guy to veer to the right to keep from hitting him. The cop then turned around and pulled the guy over for crossing the centerline and almost hitting the cop. The guy showed the cop his dashcam, and explained what happened and that he had it all recorded.

The dashcam isn’t foolproof insurance, but it’s pretty solid. They have to cross a whole different line to confiscate that. The sooner you know it’s all been recorded, the more likely they are to pursue a different victim.

[VRWCarea51]

Point of Order: Question to the Parliamentarian.

Does Guam count if to many people arrive to vote and it tips over?

[robowombat]

The problem here in Louisiana is that there are towns, such as Washington, Louisiana (I strongly encourage all to avoid this place and be very careful on the interstate as soon as you see a Washington exit sign. The local cops troll the interstate for ‘traffic violations’.) where the attitude in the courts is ‘we don't care about no stinking video cam. You are guilty pay up. A well off attorney deliberately did what others wouldn't over a matter of $600. He fought the town and in the end the appellate judiciary pretty much upheld the lower court. The ‘guilty because we say so’ mentality based on this being a Roman Law state instead of a Common Law state is deeply ingrained. I think NM is also partially Roman Law due to its long history as part of the Spanish Empire.

[Lazamataz]

Well stated, but I might have said “Cops are like people”.

[cuban leaf]

I remember a musician talking about the police hating people who own “old ryder vans” for some reason in his state. He told of being stopped at a weigh station coming back from a gig and, to cut to the chase, the cop was goint to ticket him for a burned out marker light. The marker light in question was right there in front of them both, glowing happily.

The guy said there was noting wrong with the light. The cop said, I can write you up for a burned out marker light or I can take your truck into the inspection building and we’ll see what else we can find.

He signed the ticket and went on his way.

Cops are the modern highwaymen.

[Tammy8]

While they have been/are focused on ripping off people too poor to fight back crime in Albuquerque is completely out of control.

Crime there is so far out of control if you spend the night there as a traveler you are lucky if your vehicle is not stolen or at least broken into and everything gone. Criminals are very bold, knowing their odds of getting caught are low.

[Bonemaker]

“A Federal judge ruled that an Albuqerque Police Department (APD) scheme that stole vehicles, cash, and other property from innocent owners is unconstitutional because it required the innocent owners to prove their innocence.”

Sessions is not going to like this.

[Bonemaker]

“Those who enforce it are thiefs.”

Street muscle for politicians.

[cuban leaf]

Louisiana is one of very few US states I’ve never driven in. And now that I live in KY (most of my life was in Washington state), there was a risk I would go there. I’ll avoid it and MS.

On a side note, I discovered that small towns ripping people off in Georgia got so bad that they passed a law preventing small towns from writing tickets for going less than ten over. Or something like that.

It was about four decades ago that I abandoned my child’s view of the US as a “post-scary-world” country. It still is. You just hope you don’t come across the scary part - and carry in your car where you can.

[cuban leaf]

Well stated, but I might have said “Cops are like people”.

---

I said “black people” for effect. :-D

[robowombat]

More like the modern version of robber barons. The barons henchmen throughout Germany could exact fines or whatever on anyone they chose. The old ‘Dukes of Hazard’ tv show was very close to the mark in showing the actions of Boss Hogg and his cop myrmidons. It was a funny show but people who knew about how the local politicos engaged in screwing people were some of the writers. I know people from Georgia who said some items that seemed a joke (such as inventing new traffic regulations and placing very small signage noting the change on roads where the cops were waiting in hiding for a ‘violation’ to occur) were the complete truth and they had lived with the consequences.

[Bonemaker]

“Cops are the modern highwaymen.”

Federales are pikers compared to some of our coppers.

[old gringo]

where did you find a good cop?

[Bonemaker]

“I have yet read where any police official came out against this illegal confiscation .”

There will be some pissed off politicians a police brass who had orders in for 2018 Beamers, Benz’s etc

[cuban leaf]

The only ticket my wife got in her entire life (she’s now 64) was on a very rainy night in the Chicago area. She turned right on a road she always turned on. There were no cars on the road.

Around the corner was a cop that pulled her over and wrote her a ticket for an illegal right turn. He had put an A-Frame sign on the sidewalk under a building awning just before the corner.

You have to just see it as a game or you’ll go insane.

I used to fix ATM’s in the King and Pierce county areas in Washington state. I played the game with cops all the time. I saw other people get pulled over, but I never did. It kept the drives interesting.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Cops are like black people. That is, there are good ones and bad ones.

This sounds reasonable except that all the cops took an oath to uphold the law.

Do you think the good cops know which are the bad cops?

If so, why aren't the good cops standing up to the bad cops?

The good cops know the bad cops give them a PR black eye, yet the bad cops stay on the force.

This article is a good example of this. The good cops know vehicle seizure is illegal, but the seizures continued.

[dennisw]

Thanks for the great account!!!! Ping!

[MeganC]

“where did you find a good cop?”

We have some in Park County, Wyoming!

And as someone who came from Sacramento where the cops uniformly held the Constitution in contempt I can tell you that for a citizen NOTHING exposes bad cops more than when you get to meet good cops!

I used to be afraid when I’d see a cop and anymore (at least around here) I see them as trusted neighbors.

Megan