“There's only two people in your life you should lie to... the police and your girlfriend.” - Jack Nicholson
This
link of the week is about the abhorrent practice of police confiscating
money and valuables under the umbrella of civil forfeiture. To
summarize, civil
forfeiture is essentially when law enforcement accuses the valuables or
the property with being party to a crime, but not the owner. The
original idea behind it was supposedly to attack the economic assets of
organized crime and drug smuggling operations,
but in some areas the local police departments are abusing the practice
by targeting innocents where there is no reason to suspect a crime.
Many cases it’s as simple as “you’re driving around with several
thousand dollars and that fits the pattern of being
proceeds from drug activity, so we’re confiscating it”. Often they try
to intimidate the victim into thinking if they don’t consent, they’ll
end up in jail. Isn’t that scary as hell? One can
try to get it returned in court, but that can potentially take
years and that’s only if you haven’t already been intimidated into
signing a waiver when the cash or property was taken. Why would some
police do this? Well turns out their departments get
to keep a chunk of it. Yeah, no conflict of interest there…..
"On
its official website, the Canadian government informs its citizens that
“there is no limit to the amount of money that you may legally take
into or out
of the United States.” Nonetheless, it adds, banking in the U.S. can be
difficult for non-residents, so Canadians shouldn’t carry large amounts
of cash.
That last bit is excellent advice, but for an entirely different reason than the one Ottawa cites.
There’s a shakedown going on in the U.S., and the perps are in uniform.
Across
America, law enforcement officers — from federal agents to state
troopers right down to sheriffs in one-street backwaters — are operating
a vast, co-ordinated
scheme to grab as much of the public’s cash as they can; “hand over
fist,” to use the words of one police trainer.
Roadside seizure
It
usually starts on the road somewhere. An officer pulls you over for
some minor infraction — changing lanes without proper signalling,
following the car
ahead too closely, straddling lanes. The offence is irrelevant.
Then
the police officer wants to chat, asking questions about where you’re
going, or where you came from, and why. He’ll peer into your car, then
perhaps ask
permission to search it, citing the need for vigilance against
terrorist weaponry or drugs.
What he’s really looking for, though, is money.
'Authorities
claim it’s legal, but some prosecutors and judges have called it what
it is: abuse. In any case, it’s a nasty American reality.'
And
if you were foolish (or intimidated) enough to have consented to the
search, and you’re carrying any significant amount of cash, you are now
likely to
lose it.
The
officer will probably produce a waiver, saying that if you just sign
over the money then the whole matter will just disappear, and you’ll be
able to go
on your way.
Refuse to sign it, and he may take the cash anyway, proclaiming it the probable proceeds of drugs or some other crime.
Either way, you almost certainly won’t be charged with anything; the objective is to take your money, not burden the system.
You’ll
have the right to seek its return in court, but of course that will
mean big lawyer’s fees, and legally documenting exactly where the money
came from.
You will need to prove you are not a drug dealer or a terrorist.
It might take a year or two. And several trips back to the jurisdiction where you were pulled over. Sorry.
In
places like Tijuana, police don’t make any pretense about this sort of
thing. Here in the U.S., though, it’s dressed up in terms like
“interdiction and
forfeiture,” or “the equitable sharing program.”
Authorities claim it’s legal, but some prosecutors and judges have called it what it is: abuse.
In any case, it’s a nasty American reality."
Link to Full Story Here
Another related article
No comments:
Post a Comment