The problem is that the RICO property confiscation laws entice law enforcement officials to do these drug raids. If LEO could only take property from suspected drug dealers through due process, a lot of the abuses would stop.
My daughter nearly lost her 2001 Chevy Cavalier in 2006 because a county sheriff found a 1/4 oz of marijuana. The judge was fair and threw out the seizure so she got her car back. What a fiasco that was! But at least she stopped smoking pot. She’s a staunch libertarian now.
http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=215
We have quite a few towns who have no police - so they hire State Troopers (at overtime rates) with the understanding that they are expected to write enough tickets and generate enough fines to offset their expense.
Also, we have a few towns of the same size as those above who have 5-8 police. They set up speed traps on 4 lane highways that they have annexed into the town and put unrealistic speed limits on them. Police chief is expected to generate enough revenue to fund town budgets.
Then there is one stretch of highway I was on in Florida where the speed limits changed by more than 15 miles an hour 23 times in 12 miles across the county. One of the signs were 50’ off the highway as you rounded a curve dropping the speed limit from 65 to 35 - no warning, and no way of seeing it coming... They claim it is for the safety of their children..... Oh, really? If that were the case, there would be a big sign saying CHILDREN AHEAD - Speed Limit 35 - wouldn’t you think?
Then there is the sloppy police work... Oh, sorry we broke down your door and scared you and your children half to death and shot your dogs - we were supposed to be two blocks down the street... (there have been two cases of that in the last couple of months within 50 miles of us - One of them was the local town mayors house - Raid was by State Police who didn’t know it was the mayor’s home.)
Then there are those bureaucrats who ‘turn in’ people to bolster the power of their positions. Like the food cooperative a couple of months ago.
Oh, and lets not forget those horrible Amish in Pennsylvania who went to jail because they endangered the entire community - They had the audacity to use an outhouse - bureaucrats had pushed for legislation - ‘For the well-being of the community’ that even though they had been using outhouses for generations, and were way away from any well, the powers that be decided to force them to put in sewer connections a half mile away - I guess that was so that when it rained hard, the municipal sewage treatment plant could dump the overflow into the creek and nobody could be sued...
LOL TAC you didn’t ask for that... There are a few subjects that get me on my soapbox.
Guess I am using box #1 that our forefathers gave us...
Remember those 4 boxes to manage our country...
Soap Box
Ballot Box
Jury Box
Ammo Box
The judge was fair and threw out the seizure so she got her car back. What a fiasco that was! But at least she stopped smoking pot. She’s a staunch libertarian now.<<<
She got off easy, and it was worth the lesson she learned.
Yes, there are dumb cops and over eager cops and some are crooks.
Keep in mind that sometimes they do have a tip and I bet if all the truth were known about the vacant house with flower plants, they would find out that one of the group called the cops and told them that there was a pot farm there.
The police do get tips, we didn’t have a swat team in Wellton, once we got Sgt. Ogdon, he was our swat team, 6’ 6” or more of prime manhood in his mid 30’s.
He once came into my office and asked if I would give him a ride, which I was glad to do.
In a few minutes, he had his equipment loaded into my little Toyota, the smallest model they made in 1974 and we had to lay the seat down to get him in.
I took him to a large building, drove in the entry of the building and he unloaded, for he would spend the night there, waiting for a break in they had a tip on.
LOL, he could have given the job to one of the deputies, for he was in charge of our section of the county and was the top man.
The rules on how many tickets they write and other ways they get the income, do not come from the officers, unless he is an eager beaver, they come from the top, mayor, city council and I would bet your governor.
We didn’t have a problem with earning money in our district, as the I-8 freeway went through it for about a 100 miles and the Highway Patrol, wrote the tickets.
We also had a wise and honest Judge, or Justice of the Peace, and he was into helping folks, rather than jailing them.
Before I worked at the court, I had a few questions and no money for an attorney, but needed to know what to do next.
He told me exactly what steps to take if the event happened and I did so and have been able to help a couple others who found themselves with the same problem.
So yes, I have known good ones and bad ones, and can almost pick them out on the scanner.
I know that I have heard several that i would not choose to cover my back.