(MI) Legislature considering (broader) asset forfeiture bill

[Bozita]

Source: Michigan Messenger

Legislature considering asset forfeiture bill
Would expand uses for profits from seized property
By Ed Brayton | 07.15.11 | 9:36 am

Just before the July 4 recess the Michigan House of Representatives easily passed a bill to allow local law enforcement agencies to use the profits from drug-related asset forfeitures to be used for any purpose. The vote was 81-26.

-snip-

Under current Michigan law, money generated by drug-related asset forfeitures may be kept by the agency but used only for drug-related enforcement activities. But now with deep cuts in local revenue sharing and many municipalities having to cut police department funding as a result, Rep. Kurt Heise is sponsoring HB 4349 to allow agencies to use those funds for any purpose, with the goal of helping their budget situations.

-snip-

But critics worry that this will only encourage more asset forfeitures by local police and sheriff’s departments in order to boost their budget, only making worse what they consider the fundamentally unfair — and unconstitutional — nature of such property seizures.

The problem is that the asset forfeiture laws give the government the power to seize money and property from citizens on the premise that it was used in or gained from the commission of a crime, but without ever even charging them with that crime, much less convicting them of it.


Read more: http://michiganmessenger.com/50778/legislature-considering-asset-forfeiture-bill

[Cirque du So-What]

1. A capital idea!

What could *possibly* go wrong?

[Plucketeer]

2. Yessiree!

Now there'll be funds for those new brown shirt uniforms and book bonfire accelerant!

[theaocp]

3. It's weird how the third amendment goes right to the fifth.

You'd think there'd be a fourth amendment in-between, but the Founding Fathers must have had good reason to skip it. Et bien.

[catbyte]

4. Hey, Rick The Dictator is stealing cities & school districts,

why not people's stuff?