This isn't a left or right issue. Laws that were created to hit drug trafficing and organized crime are being used by local police to finance the operation of their departments.....and often pay nice bonuses. They target average citizens with bullshit excuses like driving to close to the center line and pull them over. If they are carrying a large sum of cash or the officer "smells" pot, their money and car are seized on the spot. Perfectly "legal" and very little recourse.
I first became aware of it a few weeks ago when my local paper had a story about an issue with a program in our state.
Oklahoma DA halts I-40 drug stops after criticism | News OK
Then I came across this story yesterday. It's kind of a long read, but well worth your time to realize what those who "serve and protect" are abusing every day citizens and destroying their lives. It's legalized highway roberry.
Sarah Stillman: The Use and Abuse of Civil Forfeiture : The New Yorker
"In general, you neednt be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with probable cause is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owners guilt or innocence."
"Yet only a small portion of state and local forfeiture cases target powerful entities. Theres this myth that theyre cracking down on drug cartels and kingpins, Lee McGrath, of the Institute for Justice, who recently co-wrote a paper on Georgias aggressive use of forfeiture, says. In reality, its small amounts, where people arent entitled to a public defender, and cant afford a lawyer, and the only rational response is to walk away from your property, because of the infeasibility of getting your money back. In 2011, he reports, fifty-eight local, county, and statewide police forces in Georgia brought in $2.76 million in forfeitures; more than half the items taken were worth less than six hundred and fifty dollars. With minimal oversight, police can then spend nearly all those proceeds, often without reporting where the money has gone.
When you allow the profit incentive, thats when you start getting problems, Porter said. Its like the difference between serving in the Army and working for Blackwater. The Blackwater model wasnt endemic just in Tenaha. In Oklahoma, a Caddo County district attorney hired a private company, Desert Snow L.L.C., to train a local drug-interdiction task force. Although the companys contractors were not certified law officers, they reportedly interrogated drivers and took up to twenty-five per cent of the seized cash, even in cases where no contraband was present. Last month, after a county judge denounced the contractors role as shocking, the district attorney suspended the practice."
I first became aware of it a few weeks ago when my local paper had a story about an issue with a program in our state.
Oklahoma DA halts I-40 drug stops after criticism | News OK
Then I came across this story yesterday. It's kind of a long read, but well worth your time to realize what those who "serve and protect" are abusing every day citizens and destroying their lives. It's legalized highway roberry.
Sarah Stillman: The Use and Abuse of Civil Forfeiture : The New Yorker
"In general, you neednt be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with probable cause is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owners guilt or innocence."
"Yet only a small portion of state and local forfeiture cases target powerful entities. Theres this myth that theyre cracking down on drug cartels and kingpins, Lee McGrath, of the Institute for Justice, who recently co-wrote a paper on Georgias aggressive use of forfeiture, says. In reality, its small amounts, where people arent entitled to a public defender, and cant afford a lawyer, and the only rational response is to walk away from your property, because of the infeasibility of getting your money back. In 2011, he reports, fifty-eight local, county, and statewide police forces in Georgia brought in $2.76 million in forfeitures; more than half the items taken were worth less than six hundred and fifty dollars. With minimal oversight, police can then spend nearly all those proceeds, often without reporting where the money has gone.
When you allow the profit incentive, thats when you start getting problems, Porter said. Its like the difference between serving in the Army and working for Blackwater. The Blackwater model wasnt endemic just in Tenaha. In Oklahoma, a Caddo County district attorney hired a private company, Desert Snow L.L.C., to train a local drug-interdiction task force. Although the companys contractors were not certified law officers, they reportedly interrogated drivers and took up to twenty-five per cent of the seized cash, even in cases where no contraband was present. Last month, after a county judge denounced the contractors role as shocking, the district attorney suspended the practice."
