“Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or criminal charges. Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs. …
“News of the policy change surprised advocates who have for a long time unsuccessfully sought to reverse civil asset forfeiture laws, arguing that they undermine core American values, such as property rights and due process. ‘It’s high time we put an end to this damaging practice,’ said David Harris, a constitutional law scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. ‘It has been a civil-liberties debacle and a stain on American criminal justice.’”
All over America, corrupt cops have seized cash, cars, valuables, and even houses from innocent citizens without due process. Often, the victims are coerced into signing over their money and possessions with threats of felony charges. Some towns developed reputations for shaking down travelers. The most notorious of these was Tenaha, Texas, which Wikipedia describes as follows:
“In 2009, Tenaha became a defendant in a class action lawsuit over allegations that local police regularly made improper seizures of cash, jewelry, and property from African-American and Latino motorists passing through the town. Arrested drivers were given a choice of either going to jail on money-laundering felony charges or handing over all their valuables in order to be allowed to walk free. In one case a couple surrendered $6,000 to keep their children out of child protection services. In addition to taking of valuables from motorists who were not criminally charged, Tenaha officials allegedly agreed to lenient sentences for known drug traffickers in exchange for cash forfeitures.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaha,_Texas
An investigative article by New Yorker magazine in 2013 described how lax forfeiture procedures had turned many police departments into racketeering organizations. You can read the article here:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken
Holder’s action today is a big step in the right direction. Basically, he’s kicked state and local law enforcement agencies out of the federal asset forfeiture program for years of bad behavior. But these agencies can still rob honest citizens under state laws, so any comprehensive reform needs to include the 50 state legislatures.
Forfeiture laws have been so badly abused that a strong case can be made for outright repeal. But some law enforcement experts argue that asset forfeiture is an important crime-fighting tool against drug cartels and organized crime. If it’s retained, forfeiture laws should be revised so police agencies get none of the proceeds, because it is the prospect of material profit that has incentivized the abuses. All forfeiture proceeds should go to a state fund, and used for such things as education.
I have previously posted on this topic in this blog, and I’m glad to see this happen. I wasn’t expecting it. Forfeiture abuse really is out of control, and something has to be done.
Photo of the grubby little town of Tenaha, Texas, where highwaymen in police uniforms preyed on unwary travelers.