Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

 

[Katzndogz]

Civil forfeiture was peddled as a means to deprive drug lords of mansions luxury cars and yachts. Instead they have been used against ordinary innocent citizens. Have they ever nabbed a drug lord? Not to my knowledge and that is something I pay attention to.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Special Reports - Reining In Forfeiture | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS

 

[bianco]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

Crikey!

“Asset forfeiture today, the way it exists federally, as well as in many states, is an institutional corruption,” said Judge Jim Gray, who had three decades of experience on the bench in California.
Now retired and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Gray would rather see forfeiture proceeds funneled to a specific neutral fund like education or feeding the homeless.
“None of the [forfeiture] money should go to law enforcement. That provides them an inappropriate incentive,” he continued.

I am stunned!
Stunned that 'We the People' put up with all this, and have done so for a long time.

I have a saying; "You get what you put up with. Put up with it, and you'll likely get a whole lot more of it".

. Asset forfeiture by cops.
. Domestic violence
. Stoopid wars
the list is long.

 

[FA_Q2]

The fact that this occurs in the USA infuriates me. I would expect this king of gestapo shit from Mexico - not here.

There are some seriously fucked up things that we allow the government to get away with.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

More un-needed evidence to show that government is nothing more than organized crime.

 

[bianco]

The fact that this occurs in the USA infuriates me. I would expect this king of gestapo shit from Mexico - not here.

There are some seriously fucked up things that we allow the government to get away with.

Seems to be.
Not enough of The People banging the drum of outrage and bashing on Obama's door and the doors of the state Governors loudly enough.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

If you exceed the speed limit, drive drunk, have a non-functioning brake light, etc. you ARE breaking the law and can be cited for it. Cash strapped towns using such citations to supplement their budgets aren't breaking the law. No point having traffic laws if no one's ever punished for the crimes. That said, fighting the ticket AND requesting a jury trial will cost the town WAY more to pursue than they'd get if you paid the fine so if you wanna see most citations go away, assert your rights.

 

[BobPlumb]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

If you exceed the speed limit, drive drunk, have a non-functioning brake light, etc. you ARE breaking the law and can be cited for it. Cash strapped towns using such citations to supplement their budgets aren't breaking the law. No point having traffic laws if no one's ever punished for the crimes. That said, fighting the ticket AND requesting a jury trial will cost the town WAY more to pursue than they'd get if you paid the fine so if you wanna see most citations go away, assert your rights.

Ha ha.... Somebody didn't read the article.

 

[FA_Q2]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

If you exceed the speed limit, drive drunk, have a non-functioning brake light, etc. you ARE breaking the law and can be cited for it. Cash strapped towns using such citations to supplement their budgets aren't breaking the law. No point having traffic laws if no one's ever punished for the crimes. That said, fighting the ticket AND requesting a jury trial will cost the town WAY more to pursue than they'd get if you paid the fine so if you wanna see most citations go away, assert your rights.

Since you seem to not be willing to read the posts you comment on – this is NOT about traffic or other fines imposed for violating law. It is about cops stealing property and the fact that such outright theft is LEGAL according to law (though I would challenge that it is completely unconstitutional and therefore illegal but the courts do not agree with me at this time)

Basically, cops can pull you over, take cash from your vehicle and drive away. Your recourse to this action (as they are under no obligation to ever return this stolen property) is essentially sit in the corner and cry. It is ******* sick.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Fair cop. I didn't read the article. Title's misleading though. Having read the article, it's sounds like some local corruption moreso than widespread issue. The forfeiture thing has been used for decades in the drug war, that some local deputies are using it as a scam is unfortunate but doesn't make the whole idea unsound.

 

[FA_Q2]

Fair cop. I didn't read the article. Title's misleading though. Having read the article, it's sounds like some local corruption moreso than widespread issue. The forfeiture thing has been used for decades in the drug war, that some local deputies are using it as a scam is unfortunate but doesn't make the whole idea unsound.

Yes it does. We have rights. Even drug lords have rights and quite frankly the police should NEVER be capable of taking property without the requisite order from a judge and without real recourse. ALL property should be required to be returned as soon as possible and absolutely NOTHING should be allowed to be confiscated without a pending court case.

This is not evidence that we are talking about here but property. Fourth amendment and all.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

We have rights it's true. But our rights hinge upon our asserting them at a trial. Citizen vs cop has rights in theory, but the guy with the badge has rights as well. And because seizures are legal you're right to retain such property in the face of a crime (when an actual crime occured) is nil.

 

[FA_Q2]

We have rights it's true. But our rights hinge upon our asserting them at a trial. Citizen vs cop has rights in theory, but the guy with the badge has rights as well. And because seizures are legal you're right to retain such property in the face of a crime (when an actual crime occured) is nil.

I disagree entirely. Like I stated earlier, those seizures should be completely illegal and the fact that they fit current law means nothing as to whether the law is correct or not or even constitutional. They are another example of asinine law (IMHO) that needs to be changed. Only when that material is evidence, illegal or stolen should the state have authority over such property. How can you justify the state taking property from a person that does not fit into one of those three categories.

Further, a cop DOES NOT HAVE RIGHTS. He has the same rights that you have as a citizen but beyond that there are no 'extra' rights. there is only power and as such it needs strict limits otherwise the police are nothing more than roving thugs.

I also find that attitude is FAR to quickly giving up rights in the face of the law for no other reason than because they are the police. The entire concept of rights in this nation is a limit on the powers of the government. Why, then, are those rights suddenly 'nil' when the cops come into the picture - they very essence of government power. Your right over your property should not be nil until you have been convicted of a crime nor should it ever end if it has nothing to do with a crime in itself. The very idea that the state should have the right to steal from its citizens is wrong.

Lastly, these also have examples where a crime was never even charged. No crime and yet the police STILL are able to seize such property. At no time should the government EVER be capable of doing such an act. Without a crime, what is the justification? Yet the laws as they stand seem to permit this.

 

[rightwinger]

The law also applies different penalties for the same crime

If I am driving an $80,000 2014 BMW and forfeit the car because I had a joint in the glove box. I pay a different penalty than if you are driving a $700 87 Chevy

 

[editec]

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.[1]


Do bear in mind that STATES and LOCAL POLICE are doing this.

Thank the WAR ON DRUGS for this kind of wholesale violation of your rights, folks/

 

[M.D. Rawlings]

It's illegal theft, plain and simple. The biggest organized crime syndicates in this country are police departments

Cops Use Traffic Stops To Seize Millions From Drivers Never Charged With A Crime - Forbes

Crikey!

“Asset forfeiture today, the way it exists federally, as well as in many states, is an institutional corruption,” said Judge Jim Gray, who had three decades of experience on the bench in California.
Now retired and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Gray would rather see forfeiture proceeds funneled to a specific neutral fund like education or feeding the homeless.
“None of the [forfeiture] money should go to law enforcement. That provides them an inappropriate incentive,” he continued.

I am stunned!
Stunned that 'We the People' put up with all this, and have done so for a long time.

I have a saying; "You get what you put up with. Put up with it, and you'll likely get a whole lot more of it".

. Asset forfeiture by cops.
. Domestic violence
. Stoopid wars
the list is long.

Seems to be.
Not enough of The People banging the drum of outrage and bashing on Obama's door and the doors of the state Governors loudly enough.

You're a little .

On another thread you celebrated the standard of reasonable suspicion established in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), a significantly lower standard than probable cause relative to the concerns of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. It's this very abomination that serves as the legal justification for these fishing-expedition traffic stops, and searches and seizures. Indeed, you opined that persons like me who were seriously concerned about the subsequent and predictable abuses of this standard and emphasized the dutiful necessity of uncompromisingly asserting one's rights in such encounters as "grandstanders", "troublemakers" and the like. You even opined that the police should be empowered to be even more aggressive.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/law-a...is-is-how-you-deal-with-a-dui-checkpoint.html