Posted on 11/14/2014 6:45:04 PM PST by george76
SANTA FE, N.M. — The city attorney of Las Cruces says increasingly broad interpretations of civil forfeiture laws could be “a gold mine” for authorities across the country to seize things such as expensive cars and even people’s homes.
But his remarks during a seminar filled with local government and law enforcement officials — made with an amiable bemusement that bordered on glee — were caught on tape and have turned into a gold mine for critics who say the laws turn the justice system on its head and encourage authorities to see the personal property of private citizens as a one big money grab.
“Law enforcement officials and public officials are supposed to be about the fair and impartial administration of justice,” said Scott Bullock, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. “But when you give people bad incentives such as what you see in civil forfeiture laws, you get what you see in these videos where people are looking for opportunities to make money rather than to pursue justice.”
...
Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to seize personal property that has ties to alleged criminal activity even before any guilt is decided — or even if no charges have been filed or an any arrests made.
“In civil forfeiture, there is no need to convict or even charge a property owner with a crime for that owner to lose his car, his cash, his home or other types of property,” Bullock said in telephone interview with New Mexico Watchdog. “And that’s what makes civil forfeiture so outrageous and dangerous.”
It can also mean big money. One Justice Department program collected $4.3 billion in fiscal year 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
Whatevuh Crackuh...
Yer alive???
I’m amazed.
Txt’d you and sent a FR PM.
Hadn’t not necessarily “Nary” a word but, in keeping with your “legend” theme-0-matic “What are you? In Witness Protection?”
Nahhh, just out of surgery and hobbled.
WTF!!!???
How cumb U no tell?
Wuh happened?
Oh good!
Getting around better?
Not today!
Vicodin, Gabapentin and Naproxen.
and the Ice Machine, if they gave you one.
What did they do?
Arthroscopic removal of a bit of torn cartilage.
RICE Rest Ice Compression Elevation, mostly
Ah, so you’ve been in the joint:)
More gifts from the War on Drugs.
They take your stuff without any sort of judgment.
I thought we had a Constitution.
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