Attorney general Eric Holder puts halt to warrantless 'stop and seize' tactics

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/16/us-attorney-general-eric-holder-policy-prohibits-civil-forfeiture-police
<snip>
State and local police will no longer be allowed to seize citizens’ property without evidence that a crime has occurred, following an action by the attorney general, Eric Holder, to effectively end the program.

Holder on Friday announced a new policy that, with a few exceptions, prohibits state and local law enforcement from implementing the controversial Equitable Sharing Program, which was created in 1985 as part of the US government’s “war on drugs”.

The program is meant to allow law enforcement agencies to use property they believe has been obtained through illegal means to inject funds into their departments. In practice, it has been criticized for allowing officers to seize the assets of people in such innocuous circumstances as traffic stops without requiring the property’s owner to be found guilty of a crime.

The Washington Post has been investigating the controversial program and said in September that police have made more than $2.5m from people without search warrants since 9/11.

In the time since the terrorist attacks, close to 7,600 of the country’s 18,000 police departments have participated in the program. In some law enforcement offices, civil forfeitures accounted for 20% or more of their budgets.
-----------------------------------
The war on drugs and Bushco's 9/11 policies have turned the police into parasites feeding off all but the 1%.

[foo_bar]

1. $2.5m? I think they're missing some zeroes...

[malaise]

2. I did wonder but I guess that's what the 'stoppers'

didn't take for themselves

[barbtries]

3. literally highway robbery.

good move on Holder's part.

[madokie]

4. I knew a guy that this happened to

he was working in Tennessee on a construction job and bought a pristine '68 oldsmobile 442 from an old lady. The car only had a few miles on it and was always garage kept. It was showroom quality although it was 20 plus years old and he was constantly bugged by cops pulling him over and finally one night he did something that warranted his being arrested. The car was his bought with hard earned money. He never seen his 68 cutlass 442 again. And finally was told that if he knew what was best for him he'd forget about that car.
charges were dropped a couple days later after his arrest. I don't remember what the crime he supposedly done that cost him his pristine car was.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Also DU discussion in Latest Breaking News...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=990340

[malaise]

12. Thanks

[ctsnowman]

6. K & R

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Thank you Eric Holder

[Vattel]

8. The article doesn't make sense (unless I am missing something).

How can Holder stop state and local police from seizing property? I think Holder must be stopping federal LEO's from improperly seizing property, which is great and I applaud him for doing so.

[gollygee]

14. It is allowed only because of a federal program

so if the federal program doesn't allow it, it can't happen. Police can't just seize property without cause on their own. They could only do it because of this "war on drugs" program.

[Vattel]

15. I am not doubting you, but do you have a link?

[gollygee]

16. The link in the OP

2nd paragraph.

[Vattel]

20. okay thx

[Atman]

9. Moot. SCOTUS already said cops can act in "good faith."

Holder said no seizures without probable cause. But SCOTUS recently ruled that cops can fuck up all they want as long as they say "Ooopsy! My bad!" afterward. I'm guessing the seizures will continue and cops will just say "Gawrsh, yerhonner, I swear I thought he was settin' to do some crime!" and, of course, they'll get away with it.

[malaise]

13. Scary

but the way you explain did make me laugh -double-speak rules.

[malthaussen]

10. "Equitable Sharing Program"

I just love government euphemisms, don't you?

-- Mal

[malaise]

11. Some PR firm got millions for that BS

Love is not the word

[SomethingFishy]

17. There are cities who have been putting "Asset Seizures"

in as part of their budget. Which means they have to seize a certain amount of assets to function in the black.

This is also known as... "Fucking Robbing People".

[malaise]

18. Seriously someone is trying to rob people every

fugging second of the day and night.

[Trillo]

19. Good move, but is it enough?

I mean there are so many laws, if the cops want to get most anyone on something, they just need to look a little closer and "follow the book".