Why, it reminds me of that old TV show, Supermarket Sweep!
The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers (“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars.
In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them “little goodies.” And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man’s “exotic vehicle” outside a local bar.
“A guy drives up in a 2008 Mercedes, brand new,” he explained. “Just so beautiful, I mean, the cops were undercover and they were just like ‘Ahhhh.’ And he gets out and he’s just reeking of alcohol. And it’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, we can hardly wait.’ ”
Mr. Connelly was talking about a practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government, without ever securing a conviction or even filing a criminal charge, to seize property suspected of having ties to crime. The practice, expanded during the war on drugs in the 1980s, has become a staple of law enforcement agencies because it helps finance their work. It is difficult to tell how much has been seized by state and local law enforcement, but under a Justice Department program, the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year from $407 million in 2001. Much of that money is shared with local police forces.
How much civil asset forfeiture do you suppose the 1% has suffered over the past 30 years. Wanna bet it’s a very low percentage of their total wealth? The only real criminals reside in the 99%. The 1% is as pure as the driven snow. Or so the 1% would have us all believe.
If they sized the cars of drunk drivers, I wouldn’t mind. They can drive without a license, but they can’t drive without a car.
If you can afford a lawyer, they won’t touch you. But they specialize in stealing stuff that is worth less than what a lawyer would cost. Too bad we don’t have judges with the ability to see how wrong and illegal this is. Or more likely, they see it, but they are in cahoots with the pigs.