The Supreme Court hasn't heard a civil forfeiture case in more than ten years. I think it's time to revisit the issue.
I bet the only reason they got the money back is because the County clerk didn’t like seeing the cops take his bail money.
Police dogs have to stay away from ATMs and banks lest their noses explode.
About the only currency not contaminated with drug residue is direct from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Once it gets stuck in a wallet or cash drawer it starts picking up enough drug residue to detect.
Police dogs have to stay away from ATMs and banks lest their noses explode.
About the only currency not contaminated with drug residue is direct from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Once it gets stuck in a wallet or cash drawer it starts picking up enough drug residue to detect.
"This town's police department is conniving with the federal government to circumvent Massachusetts law — which is less permissive than federal law — in order to seize his livelihood and retirement assets. In the lawsuit titled "United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts," the government is suing an inanimate object, the motel Caswell's father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million. The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime. They are being persecuted by two governments eager to profit from what is antiseptically called the "equitable sharing" of the fruits of civil forfeiture, a process of government enrichment that often is indistinguishable from robbery.
I suspect this story is BS. First, author Radley Balko claims to be Libertarian, but is really hard core leftist.
Secondly, ATM cards have a daily limit. It’s usually $400 to $600. That is not per dispensing machine. It’s per card.
For them to have gotten $7500, they would have to have had approximately 15 ATM cards, 15 separate bank accounts, each with at least $500 in it,
Doesn’t pass the smell test. If was from machines, they could have shown the receipts.
Bet the “kid” was a drug dealer and the money came from his tainted stash.
Remember, all crooks in prison are innocent. Just ask them.
Wisconsin Green Bay Bail Money Confiscation Scam?
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Used to live in Wisconsin and the state police were very corupt. They would ask for cash at a traffic stop and offer the threat of a ticket or jail time if you refused. Creeps.
According to the article, A) this wasn’t the only time this department has tried this trick. And B) Other departments are telling people to bring bail money in cash, even though that isn’t required. It seems this could be a growing trend if it isn’t stamped out early.
Note to self: rub pepper on all bills if I am ever in that situation.
I suspect this story is BS. First, author Radley Balko claims to be Libertarian, but is really hard core leftist.
Secondly, ATM cards have a daily limit. It’s usually $400 to $600. That is not per dispensing machine. It’s per card.
For them to have gotten $7500, they would have to have had approximately 15 ATM cards, 15 separate bank accounts, each with at least $500 in it,
Doesn’t pass the smell test. If was from machines, they could have shown the receipts.
Bet the “kid” was a drug dealer and the money came from his tainted stash.
Remember, all crooks in prison are innocent. Just ask them.
Is there a state without a culture of police corruption? Seems like there are no good cops left.
“The incorruptibility of law enforcement matched with the infallible judgment of dogs. “
The dog is okay, it is the cash that had the “scent.” Dog was doing its job very well but you see, according to studies, up to 75% of cash in circulation would cause a drug dog to “hit” on it.
“Drug Dog’s “Alert” to Cash Not Grounds for Forfeiture When Up to 75 percent of Currency Tainted With Drugs.
http://ndsn.org/dec94/dog.html
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the government did not have probable cause to seize $30,060 from a motorist based only on a drug-detection dog’s reaction (U.S. v. $30,060 in U.S. Currency, CA9, No. 92-55919, Nov. 8, 1994; 56 CrL 1169; BNA Criminal Practice Manual, Nov. 23, 1994, p. 572; “Drugs Taint Most Currency in Los Angeles,” Washington Post, Nov. 13, 1994, p. A4).
Key to the court’s ruling was a finding that up to 75 percent of all currency in the Los Angeles area is coated with traces of cocaine or other controlled substances.”
“Instead jail officials called in the same Drug Task Force that arrested Greer. A drug-sniffing dog inspected the Greers’ cash, and about a half-hour later, Beverly Greer said, a police officer told her the dog had alerted to the presence of narcotics on the bills — and that the police department would be confiscating the bail money. [...] “
The tainting of cash is true of most of the cash Americans carry.
The next victim could be any one of us.
****
The term “dirty money” is for real.
In the course of its average 20 months in circulation, U.S. currency gets whisked into ATMs, clutched, touched and traded perhaps thousands of times at coffee shops, convenience stores and newsstands. And every touch to every bill brings specks of dirt, food, germs or even drug residue.
Research presented this weekend reinforced previous findings that 90 percent of paper money circulating in U.S. cities contains traces of cocaine.
****
Money can be contaminated with cocaine during drug deals or if a user snorts with a bill. But not all bills are involved in drug use; they can get contaminated inside currency-counting machines at the bank.
“When the machine gets contaminated, it transfers the cocaine to the other bank notes,” Zuo said. These bills have fewer remnants of cocaine. Some of the dollars in his experiment had .006 micrograms, which is several thousands of times smaller than a single grain of sand.
Zuo, who spoke about his research at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society on Sunday, found that $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills were more likely to be positive for cocaine than $1 bills.
If they play Sheriff of Nottingham, do we get to play Robin Hood?