asset forfeiture

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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

hepcat wrote:Yup, kids stumbling onto land mines and losing limbs or even dying is high entertainment, eh?

Hopefully this is an act you put on because you think it's funny.
How about land mines that explode that blue paint stuff banks use?
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hepcat
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by hepcat »

em2nought wrote:
hepcat wrote:Yup, kids stumbling onto land mines and losing limbs or even dying is high entertainment, eh?

Hopefully this is an act you put on because you think it's funny.
I'd settle for voter picture ID, and moving lots of our military bases to the border instead of places like Camp Lejeune, NC. If we spend more than the next eight countries combined on our armed forces every year, they should be able to take care of our borders with what they have already. :doh:
Good thing we don't actually have any significant problem with our borders. Well, unless you're a gullible sap who fell for Trump's scare tactics. But hey, don't feel bad. A lot of people who watch too much tv fell for it.

I love conservative snowflakes. They're scared of their own shadows. :mrgreen:
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Progress in Pennsylvania https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/b731d414-0 ... -home.html If I was that granny, my level of PO'd would not be able to be appeased no matter what the findings after seven years of dealing with that BS. :naughty:
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Technically, he shouldn't be here.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Connecticut to Require Convictions Before Trying to Seize and Keep People's Property
First the good news: Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy has signed a bill requiring police and prosecutors to actually convict somebody of a crime before trying to take his or her stuff.
...
Now comes the bad news: A program at the federal Department of Justice will allow police to bypass these new restrictions. The "Equitable Sharing" program lets local law enforcement agencies partner with the feds on raids and other police actions. The police then route the forfeitures through the federal government instead of state courts. This allows police in many states to keep more of the property or assets (up to 80 percent) under looser guidelines than they would under their state's own forfeiture guidelines.
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Paingod
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Paingod »

I continue to be baffled and enraged by the police deliberately acting as criminals and government supporting it.

It shouldn't be a hard concept to follow. If you're found not guilty, you get 100% of your stuff back. No questions, no loopholes, no hassles.

:hawk:
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Paingod wrote:I continue to be baffled and enraged by the police deliberately acting as criminals and government supporting it.

It shouldn't be a hard concept to follow. If you're found not guilty, you get 100% of your stuff back. No questions, no loopholes, no hassles.
It's worse than that because if the government has seized or frozen your assets how are you supposed to hire a lawyer and defend yourself?
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Authorities in Utah Seized Nearly $3 Million in Cash and Assets From Citizens Last Year
Utah is one of just a few states in the country to require an annual report on asset forfeiture, the practice by which cops seize cash, cars, and other property believed to have been used in a crime or obtained with the proceeds of a crime.
...
Most forfeitures (69 percent) take place during traffic stops and most of the time only money is seized. According to the state report, cash was taken in 99 percent of forfeitures during 2016, with the median seizure amounting to only $1,031.

That means, in many cases, the amount seized was considerably less than four-figures. In one instance, the report shows, police took $16 from a motorist.

"What are they doing where they have to take that $16 to protect public safety," says Jennifer McDonald, a research analyst for the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that has challenged asset forfeiture laws in several states and advocates for reforms to the practice.

As in other places—like in Chicago, where cops have seized as little as 34 cents from motorists and targeted poor neighborhoods with forfeiture actions—the amount of the average seizure raises questions about how forfeiture is being used.

Small scale seizures give the victim almost no recourse. Under asset forfeiture laws, the burden of proof is on the property owner, and few people are going to hire and lawyer and go to court to recover a small amount of cash, McDonald says. "It's just ridiculous."
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by coopasonic »

Hey now, we can't let people think crime actually pays! With that 34 cents, they could... um... well... make 34 wishes at a fountain?
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by noxiousdog »

coopasonic wrote:Hey now, we can't let people think crime actually pays! With that 34 cents, they could... um... well... make 34 wishes at a fountain?
I could be wrong, but I'm guessing this is more of a transparancy thing. A car was impounded and when it was searched they found something of monetary asset and so it was recorded. Which of course doesn't excuse the other stuff.
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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

coopasonic wrote:Hey now, we can't let people think crime actually pays! With that 34 cents, they could... um... well... make 34 wishes at a fountain?
Well, couldn't they get 3 dime bags with that?
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Max Peck »

Punisher wrote:
coopasonic wrote:Hey now, we can't let people think crime actually pays! With that 34 cents, they could... um... well... make 34 wishes at a fountain?
Well, couldn't they get 3 dime bags with that?
More like 3-4% of a dime bag. Or so I'm told... :whistle:
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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

Max Peck wrote:
Punisher wrote:
coopasonic wrote:Hey now, we can't let people think crime actually pays! With that 34 cents, they could... um... well... make 34 wishes at a fountain?
Well, couldn't they get 3 dime bags with that?
More like 3-4% of a dime bag. Or so I'm told... :whistle:
so... False advertising then... Someone should sue...
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Moliere
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Jeff Sessions wants police to take more cash from American citizens
“We hope to issue this week a new directive on asset forfeiture — especially for drug traffickers,” Sessions said in his prepared remarks for a speech to the National District Attorney's Association in Minneapolis. "With care and professionalism, we plan to develop policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be allowed to keep the proceeds of their crime. Adoptive forfeitures are appropriate as is sharing with our partners."
:grund: :evil:
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em2nought
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Moliere wrote:Authorities in Utah Seized Nearly $3 Million in Cash and Assets From Citizens Last Year
Utah is one of just a few states in the country to require an annual report on asset forfeiture, the practice by which cops seize cash, cars, and other property believed to have been used in a crime or obtained with the proceeds of a crime.
...
Most forfeitures (69 percent) take place during traffic stops and most of the time only money is seized. According to the state report, cash was taken in 99 percent of forfeitures during 2016, with the median seizure amounting to only $1,031.

That means, in many cases, the amount seized was considerably less than four-figures. In one instance, the report shows, police took $16 from a motorist.

"What are they doing where they have to take that $16 to protect public safety," says Jennifer McDonald, a research analyst for the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that has challenged asset forfeiture laws in several states and advocates for reforms to the practice.

As in other places—like in Chicago, where cops have seized as little as 34 cents from motorists and targeted poor neighborhoods with forfeiture actions—the amount of the average seizure raises questions about how forfeiture is being used.

Small scale seizures give the victim almost no recourse. Under asset forfeiture laws, the burden of proof is on the property owner, and few people are going to hire and lawyer and go to court to recover a small amount of cash, McDonald says. "It's just ridiculous."
Sort of makes you wish you lived in Thailand. Satisfactory bribes can be much, much smaller there. I really, really need to fix that front turn signal before they pull me over. The local Barney Fifes just equated driving around with a broken light to being a criminal, and breaking the law in that manner leading to eventually becoming a drug criminal.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

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How do you tell the difference between burglary and forfeiture? AKA Thanks Obama!
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Just happening to coincide with Sessions reinstating asset forfeiture at Justice. I'm sure there's no connection http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/ ... 484428001/
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

City offers to end use of forfeiture funds for law enforcement
City lawyers late Friday afternoon filed a request with U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to approve a permanent injunction on Philadelphia’s using the proceeds for law enforcement, arguing that it would satisfy a stated demand by the plaintiffs for such prohibition. As part of the order, the city would deny liability and that it violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs or anyone else in the class-action suit.

Kathleen Martin, first assistant for the District Attorney’s office, said in a statement that the funds would instead be used to pay for drug treatment, drug-abuse prevention, and to alleviate blight in communities ravaged by the drug trade.
...
In an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Inquirer, Milad Emam, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, wrote that the organization was continuing its class-action suit because Pennsylvania law still allows for proceeds from forfeitures to be used by law enforcement “to pad their budgets and salaries,” and that the law allows for people to lose property to forfeiture without ever being charged or convicted of a crime.

The plaintiffs in the Philadelphia case include Chris and Markela Sourovelis. “After police officers arrested their youngest son for selling $40 of drugs without their knowledge, police returned to seize their home and evict them,” Emam wrote in his opinion piece.

“The Sourovelises had no warning or ability to contest eviction. In order to return to their home, prosecutors in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office forced them to sign an agreement permanently banning their son from their home and waiving their rights to challenge the DA’s actions in court,” Emam wrote.
Losing their home over $40 worth of drugs?! :evil:
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Re: asset forfeiture

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DOJ watchdog: Tennessee spent $110K in seized funds on catering
Tennessee law enforcement misused funds from a program involving seized assets, spending more than $110,000 on catering, a government watchdog report released Thursday found.

The report from the Inspector General for the Department of Justice came weeks after Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved to allow the asset forfeiture program to grow, which former Attorney General Eric Holder scaled back in 2015.

Law enforcement seizes property routinely under the suspicion it is obtained from or for illegal activity. Through the Department of Justice's equitable sharing program, the Justice Department's law enforcement partners can request and spend funds from the seizures for law enforcement purposes.

The report noted law enforcement cannot use the funds for bayonets, weaponized aircraft or food purchases, among other things.

The inspector general report released on Thursday said it had "identified several areas of improvement" with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security's use of the program. Namely, the report took issue with $112,614 in funds spent on food with just over $110,000 spent on catering from March 2014-March 2016 based on funds from the program.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Max Peck wrote:DOJ watchdog: Tennessee spent $110K in seized funds on catering
Tennessee law enforcement misused funds from a program involving seized assets, spending more than $110,000 on catering, a government watchdog report released Thursday found.
Catering, it's a foreign concept to me, I always drive to Checkers or Burger King. Can't they just hop in the black and white armored bmp and hit the drive thru?
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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

em2nought wrote:
Max Peck wrote:DOJ watchdog: Tennessee spent $110K in seized funds on catering
Tennessee law enforcement misused funds from a program involving seized assets, spending more than $110,000 on catering, a government watchdog report released Thursday found.
Catering, it's a foreign concept to me, I always drive to Checkers or Burger King. Can't they just hop in the black and white armored bmp and hit the drive thru?
It doesn't fit in the drive thru..
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Max Peck »

House votes to curb asset seizures
The House voted Tuesday to curb the law enforcement practice of seizing cash and property from people who are suspected, but not necessarily charged, of illegal activity.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers pushed an amendment to a government spending package for 2018 that would prohibit the use of funds to carry out plans by the Trump administration to remove restrictions on the use of asset forfeiture. The practice allows law enforcement to seize cash and property and keep at least part of the proceeds.

Opposition to relaxing asset forfeiture limits produced a strange-bedfellows effort by members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and liberal progressives. Sponsors of the amendment included Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.).

Their amendment would specifically restrict the use of what's known as "adoptive forfeiture," which allows the federal government to take possession of assets seized by local authorities, who would still be able to partake in the proceeds derived from the assets' value.

Critics say that the practice has allowed local authorities to circumvent state laws that were stricter than under federal statute. About two dozen states have laws that make it harder for authorities to seize property if a person has not been convicted of a crime.

"This practice is outrageous. It supplants the authority of states to regulate their own law enforcement and it further mires the federal government in unconstitutional asset forfeitures," Amash said during House floor debate.

The amendment was easily adopted by voice vote. Lawmakers are expected to pass the spending package with the attached amendment later this week.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Now you too can get in on the asset forfeiture by snitching on your neighbors in Warren MI.
Residents are being put on notice: Sell drugs in the city and your neighbors can collect $500 for reporting you.

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts and Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer jointly announced a program Wednesday called P.A.I.D. (People Against Illegal Drugs), which rewards residents $500 each for information leading to a search warrant and arrest involving illegal drug sales from a Warren residence.

“This program means all Warren residents will be the eyes and ears in our war against drug pushers,” Fouts said in a statement.
I can't imagine how this might be abused. :think:

I want to get PAID! Should I throw a bag of weed in your yard and then call the cops?
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by gameoverman »

'leading to a search warrant and arrest'?

They can get a warrant based on fake 'informants', and they can arrest anyone for no reason at all! It's like they want to give away money.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Paingod »

This worked so well for Salem.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

Paingod wrote:This worked so well for Salem.
Hey, it IS witch free now...
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Moliere
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Punisher wrote:
Paingod wrote:This worked so well for Salem.
Hey, it IS witch free now...
:lol:
touché
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Isgrimnur »

Actually, it’s not.
Last edited by Isgrimnur on Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

Isgrimnur wrote:Actually, it’ not.
Fine, but those are new witches, they did clear them out before, then got lax with the torches and pitchforks..
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Isgrimnur »

You've got to put down some sort of witch-barrier, otherwise they just move right back in.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

Isgrimnur wrote:You've got to put down some sort of witch-barrier, otherwise they just move right back in.
I'm gonna tweet this to Trump. He'll put up the greatest barrier ever and get the Warlocks to pay for it.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

ICE handbook trains agents on how to steal your stuff.
The handbook also instructs ICE agents on the various ways laws can be used to justify the seizure of a property, and devotes a significant portion of its pages to the seizure of real estate. The manual instructs agents seeking to seize a property to work with confidential informants, scour tax records, and even obtain an interception warrant to determine whether “a telephone located on the property was used to plan or discuss criminal activity” in order to justify seizing the property.

The handbook acknowledges that civil forfeiture can be used to take property from a person even when there’s not enough evidence for a criminal indictment. There “may be third party interest that would prevail in a criminal case, but would not survive in a civil proceeding, making the civil proceeding essential to forfeiture,” the handbook states, referencing a property owner not officially implicated in a crime. “Those situations generally occur when a property owner is not convicted of a crime but is also not an innocent owner. Under criminal forfeiture, that property owner would be entitled to the return of the property. Under civil forfeiture, however, the owner would lose his or her interest to the Government.”
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Paingod
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Re: asset forfeiture

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“Those situations generally occur when a property owner is not convicted of a crime but is also not an innocent owner."
... if you can't be convicted of a crime, aren't you actually innocent?
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by malchior »

Paingod wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2017 2:19 pm
“Those situations generally occur when a property owner is not convicted of a crime but is also not an innocent owner."
... if you can't be convicted of a crime, aren't you actually innocent?
Welcome to the wonderful world of asset forfeiture!
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Suffolk DA’s office bonuses totaled $3.25M since 2012
Bonus recipients included deputy chief homicide prosecutor Robert Biancavilla, who received a total of $108,886 between 2012 and 2017, and division chief Edward Heilig and top public corruption prosecutor Christopher McPartland, who each received $73,000, according to records obtained from county Comptroller John Kennedy’s office through the Freedom of Information Law.

Federal prosecutors have charged McPartland and former District Attorney Thomas Spota with attempting to cover up former county Police Chief of Department James Burke’s assault of a suspect who broke into his car. Spota and McPartland have pleaded not guilty.

The bonuses, which were funded from assets seized in criminal cases by the district attorney’s office, did not receive legislative approval. The original figure of $2.7 million came from documents provided by County Executive Steve Bellone’s office, which only included bonuses for top management employees.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Sneaky tactics & questions to not answer fully when in Wyoming https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef ... 166f5d2fa7
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by em2nought »

Despite promises to cut back, fed and state governments press asset forfeitures http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01 ... tures.html
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Moliere »

Alabama cops and Prosecutors come out against reforms that would require an actual, you know, conviction before taking someone's stuff.
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Paingod »

Cute.
Article wrote:Unfortunately, several special interest groups have pushed a narrative that law enforcement - police, sheriffs and other authorities - are using civil asset forfeiture to unfairly take money and property from innocent Alabamians.

That narrative is false.
By definition, if you're not convicted of a crime, you're innocent. They should have no ability to take property because they know but can't prove you're a criminal. If they prove it, they can keep it.

This isn't hard math.
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Punisher
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Re: asset forfeiture

Post by Punisher »

Paingod wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:28 am Cute.
Article wrote:Unfortunately, several special interest groups have pushed a narrative that law enforcement - police, sheriffs and other authorities - are using civil asset forfeiture to unfairly take money and property from innocent Alabamians.

That narrative is false.
By definition, if you're not convicted of a crime, you're innocent. They should have no ability to take property because they know but can't prove you're a criminal. If they prove it, they can keep it.

This isn't hard math.
One thing I can agree with from the article is that this could affect things like pre-trial intervention. This is where you're accused of a minor crime, such as minor drug possession and the DA cuts a deal like probation. This isn't really a conviction so they couldn't take those assets. With the law they will be less likely of offering this to people which may mean more people with records and/or jail time. So people who may have made a small mistake now have to pay for it forever with a criminal record whereas before, they may have been able to learn a lesson and straighten themselves out.
It would be interesting to know how much n asset forfeiture they get from these people in the first place. IE: Is it really a small amount and they are just using this as a talking point or does it contribute a significant amount.
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