Trump questions lawmakers' efforts to curb asset seizures by police
Source: Reuters
Politics Tue Feb 7, 2017 2:54pm EST
Trump questions lawmakers' efforts to curb asset seizures by police
By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON
https://twitter.com/ewstephe
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was "no reason" to curb law enforcement agencies that seize cash, vehicles and other assets of people suspected of crimes, a practice that some lawmakers and activists have criticized for denying legal rights. ... The issue of civil asset forfeiture, created to disrupt the activities of organized crime groups, arose when sheriffs from around the United States told Trump at a White House meeting that they were under pressure to ease the practice. ... "I'd like to look into that," Trump said. "There's no reason for that."
In 2016, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill, which did not become law, that would have required the government to do more to show that seized property was connected to a crime. Critics have said suspects have few avenues to challenge the seizures and that forfeiture laws were sometimes abused. Police in some cases seize property from people who are never charged or convicted.
Trump, a Republican, asked acting U.S. Attorney General Dana Boente, who was at the gathering, whether executive orders or legislation were needed to support forfeiture. Boente said that was unnecessary but law enforcement agencies needed encouragement.
Trump voiced disagreement with lawmakers who want to change asset forfeiture laws, and some of the sheriffs laughed when Trump suggested he might want to "destroy" the career of one Texas legislator.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-police-idUSKBN15M2BU
Here's your police state.
It's time to stop laughing.
In September 2014, the Washington Post ran a three-part series, "Stop and Seize," about people who were stopped by the local police while on the highway. Their assets and car were seized, and often they were not returned.
This will take you to that series in the Washington Post and other articles with that tag:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/collection/stop-and-seize-2/
Enterprise Story
Part 1: Stop and seize
6 Sep 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/
Story by Michael Sallah, Robert O'Harrow Jr., Steven Rich, Gabe Silverman
Published on September 6, 2014
@MikeSallah7
https://twitter.com/MikeSallah7
@robertoharrow
https://twitter.com/robertoharrow
@G_E_Silver (formerly of Washington Post)
https://twitter.com/G_E_Silver
After the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the government called on police to become the eyes and ears of homeland security on Americas highways.
Local officers, county deputies and state troopers were encouraged to act more aggressively in searching for suspicious people, drugs and other contraband. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice spent millions on police training.
The effort succeeded, but it had an impact that has been largely hidden from public view: the spread of an aggressive brand of policing that has spurred the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from motorists and others not charged with crimes, a Washington Post investigation found. Thousands of people have been forced to fight legal battles that can last more than a year to get their money back.
Behind the rise in seizures is a little-known cottage industry of private police-training firms that teach the techniques of highway interdiction to departments across the country.
One of those firms created a private intelligence network known as Black Asphalt Electronic Networking & Notification System that enabled police nationwide to share detailed reports about American motorists criminals and the innocent alike including their Social Security numbers, addresses and identifying tattoos, as well as hunches about which drivers to stop.
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