Washington Times editorial board praises Rand's bill to rein in asset forfeitureEDITORIAL: Stopping police asset-forfeiture predators
Left and right agree that civil-forfeiture laws must be radically reformed
When the public is more afraid of the cops than the bad guys, the system is broken. There’s reason for some law-abiding Americans to worry about their pocketbook becoming lighter after a visit from the lawman. Bonnie and Clyde never pretended to be anything but robbers.
A 64-year-old Texas woman, for example, was accused of being a drug dealer simply because she was carrying cash in her pickup truck from the sale of her land. The cops took her money, though she had never been convicted of a crime in her life. She had to sue in federal court to get all of her money back.
A family grocery store in Michigan was threatened by the IRS for “money laundering” because they handled money in the way their insurance policy required. Car owners giving friends a lift in New York City suffer their vehicles seized because the Taxi Commission thinks they’re operating an illegal cab.
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Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky wants to stop this abuse with a bill that he calls the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act. It would eliminate the profit motive by requiring law enforcement agencies to send the money seized directly into the Treasury. The act would require cops to follow all applicable state laws, which would put a stop to local jurisdictions that have used federal seizure statutes to evade strict laws. Some states, such as Minnesota, have cracked down on forfeiture abuse.
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Given the gridlock in Washington, this is a proposal that ought to advance, given its wide appeal across party lines. The American Civil Liberties Union has been outspoken on the need to rein in forfeiture laws, and so have conservative and libertarian groups, such as the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute.
Democrats and Republicans alike ought to put this forfeiture reform on President Obama’s desk. It’s a golden opportunity for a bit of bipartisanship in a town that could use some.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/25/editorial-stopping-police-predators/Radley Balko praises Rand's bill to rein in asset forfeitureThe bill would also require states “to abide by state law when forfeiting seized property.” This is important. Currently, a number of state legislatures across the country have passed reform bills to rein in forfeiture abuses. The problem is that the federal government has a program known as “adoption” or “equitable sharing.” Under the program, a local police agency need only call up the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or similar federal agency. That agency then “federalizes” the investigation, making it subject to federal law. The federal agency then initiates forfeiture proceedings under the laxer federal guidelines for forfeiture. The feds take a cut and then return the rest — as much as 80 percent — back to the local agency. This trick thwarts the intent of state legislature that have attempted to make civil forfeiture more fair when it comes to burden of proof, protections for innocent property owners and eliminating the perverse incentive of allowing forfeiture proceeds to go to the same police agency that made the seizure.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/07/25/rand-paul-introduces-bill-to-reform-civil-asset-forfeiture/In case anyone is unfamiliar w/ Balko, he's one of the leading critics of the militarization of police in America.
