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Title: It’s Time We Start Calling ‘Civil Asset Forfeiture’ What it Really Is – ‘Armed Robbery by Police’
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/highway-robbery-illinois-style/
Published: Dec 30, 2015
Author: Eva Decesare
Post Date: 2015-12-30 10:45:25 by Deckard
Keywords: Road Pirates with Badges, State Sanctioned Robbery, Theft by Cop
Views: 3534
Comments: 17
Three years ago a couple was stopped by an armed gang and robbed of over $100,000. The facts are not in dispute. The perpetrators are known. And yet the criminals have not been punished, and the property has not been recovered. Why? Because the perpetrators wear badges. Since late 2012, when Adam and Jennifer Perry were robbed by the Illinois State Police, they have been trying to retrieve their stolen property. It has been a challenge, however, because when “law enforcers” rob you, it’s not (according to them) a crime. The Perry’s were pulled over for speeding on I-80 in Henry County, Illinois, on their way to see a specialist about Adam’s ear infection. When a police dog “indicated” to the vehicle (something dogs can easily be trained to do on command, yet something that police claim is “probable cause” to do a search), police searched the car, without a warrant or consent. Between Jennifer’s wallet and a suitcase in the vehicle, police found $107,520 in cash, which the police promptly stole. Law enforcers like to refer to such things as “seizures,” but since the cash was neither evidence of a crime, nor was it contraband, to use the legal term (“seizure”) is dishonest and inaccurate. Nothing illegal was found in the vehicle, and the Perrys were never charged with any crime. So the correct term for what the police did is “armed robbery.” (The Illinois State thieves eventually handed over the stolen loot to a bigger gang of thieves, the federal government.) And such highway robbery is not at all uncommon. It is standard operating procedure for badge-wearing pirates to simply allege that money might be connected to something illegal (like narcotics), and then steal the money based on a wild guess. In a direct, obvious violation of the “due process” clause of the Fifth Amendment, victims of such robbery must then prove their innocence in order to have any chance of retrieving their stolen property. The state thugs don’t need to prove anything. Aside from the cash, police also stole the family’s Toyota Tundra. “I even begged and said please just give me my truck back and you can keep the money and ill (sic) walk away from it. Still denied,” Mr. Perry wrote in a letter to the court. “You don’t understand the emotional, physical and financial terrorism you have caused.” In spite of being robbed at gunpoint by agents of the state, the couple remains resolute in the notion that they are not required to prove their innocence to get their money back. “This is not Nazi Germany where you can treat people like this,” he wrote. According to the Washington Post, one federal “civil forfeiture” program included almost 62,000 examples of direct robbery (over 1,700 of them in Illinois), in situations where there was no warrant, and the owners of the cash were not charged with any crime. When you have badge-wearing pirates routinely committing armed robbery against thousands of Americans, with no charges and no trial, it becomes undeniable who the Bullies in Blue really “protect and serve.” And it isn’t you.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
And, it is time to greatly restrict it. Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. There are no Carthaginian terrorists.
True, but not the complete story. They were driving from Massachusetts to Utah when they were pulled over for a routine speeding violation in Illinois. Driving, you ask? Why drive when they obviously have enough money to fly. When pulled over, the officer smelled marijuana. He called for a dog. The drug dog sniffed and indicated on the car. Officers then searched the vehicle and found $107,520 in cash in a suitcase and in Jennifer’s wallet. According to the officers, they also found a duffel bag that reportedly smelled of marijuana. The couple couldn't explain the money.
Dirty cops routinely use false alerts from drug-sniffing dogs to illegally search vehicles According to the officers, they also found a duffel bag that reportedly smelled of marijuana. Yet they found no marijuana, did they? Troopers Say Police Dogs Trained To False Alert As Pretext To Seize People's Money In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much Must have been a hell of an ear infection.
Specialists are expensive.
Nope. Which is why they weren't arrested.
Excuse me but then why hasn't the state given the ILLEGALLY seized property back to the victims.
Because this is a civil case against the money, not a criminal case against the drug traffickers. All the people have to do is show where the money came from and they can have it back.
In rem.
And, it is time to greatly restrict it. And to impose sentences of 10 years in prison wearing their uniforms or robes for people who have defied, or are defying, those restrictions. The dogs that have been trained to be accessories to the crime should be ground up and made into cat food.
Uh, yeah. What you said.
The federal asset forfeiture program has recently been greatly restricted. I'm kinda surprised you haven't bothered to post a thread. Slashdot: Justice Department Shuts Down Huge Asset Forfeiture Program Many states did restrict the use of state asset forfeiture laws so a bunch of scumbag police chiefs and state troopers made use of the federal law in those states to launder their thefts, letting the feds keep their 10% cut and pocketing the 90% as pure profit. As a federal matter, it made it that much more difficult for the victims to recover their funds/vehicles from seizure. The landscape of state and federal forfeiture laws was complex. With the feds taking the federal forfeiture racket off the books, it has left the local scumbag PDs and sheriffs and troopers with little recourse (unless they operate in a state that still has no restrictions on forfeitures under state laws).
I have more important matters to worry about. Glad you have the time & inclination to monitor these matters and to keep us updated! Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. There are no Carthaginian terrorists.
Huh? I was just clearing my throat.
And Obama has been handing out executive clemency to drug dealers like Mardi Gras beads.
a) The above civil asset forfeiture was done under Illinois law, not federal. b) After the passage of CAFRA in 2000, federal civil asset forfeiture laws are much more lenient than state laws. c) The federal program that was shut down was "adoptions". "Adoptions" occur when state or local law enforcement agencies seize cash or properties under state laws, but then ask that a federal agency takes the seized property and forfeit it under federal law. This was done to circumvent state laws that mandated seized assets go to designated programs, typically a state's general fund or education fund. When a seizure is "adopted" by the feds, the seizing agency gets to keep 80% of the proceeds, with the federal government getting the rest.
It seemed from the article it was just seized initially, then laundered through the federal program. Anyway, I was just posting my own news blurb on the shutdown of the fed program (to state PDs) on the most recent forfeiture thread (this thread). Deckard has posted at least a thousand forfeiture threads but somehow never posted one on the recent end of the federal loot-sharing program used as a dodge by so many PDs. I thought it was remarkable that he didn't post about it.
" It’s Time We Start Calling ‘Civil Asset Forfeiture’ What it Really Is – ‘Armed Robbery by Police’ "
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
"The Perry’s were pulled over for speeding on I-80 in Henry County, Illinois, on their way to see a specialist about Adam’s ear infection."
#3. To: misterwhite (#2)
When pulled over, the officer smelled marijuana. He called for a dog. The drug dog sniffed and indicated on the car.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#4. To: misterwhite (#2)
Officers then searched the vehicle and found $107,520 in cash in a suitcase and in Jennifer’s wallet.
#5. To: Roscoe (#4)
"Must have been a hell of an ear infection."
#6. To: Deckard (#3)
"Yet they found no marijuana, did they?"
#7. To: misterwhite (#6)
Nope. Which is why they weren't arrested.
#8. To: calcon (#7)
"Excuse me but then why hasn't the state given the ILLEGALLY seized property back to the victims."
#9. To: calcon (#7)
#10. To: Stoner (#1)
" It’s Time We Start Calling ‘Civil Asset Forfeiture’ What it Really Is – ‘Armed Robbery by Police’ "
#11. To: Roscoe (#9)
"In rem."
#12. To: Deckard, Stoner, misterwhite (#0)
For all the bitching you've done about this program and its abuses, you apparently didn't even notice it just got shut down. Finally. Christopher Ingraham reports at the Washington Post that the Department of Justice has announced that it's suspending a controversial asset forfeiture program that allows local police departments to keep a large portion of assets seized from citizens under federal law and funnel it into their own coffers. Asset forfeiture has become an increasingly contentious practice in recent years. It lets police seize and keep cash and property from people who are never convicted — and in many cases, never charged with wrongdoing. Recent reports have found that the use of the practice has exploded in recent years, prompting concern that, in some cases, police are motivated more by profits and less by justice. Criminal justice reformers are cheering the change. "This is a significant deal," says Lee McGrath, legislative counsel at the Institute for Justice. "Local law enforcement responds to incentives. And it's clear that one of the biggest incentives is the relative payout from federal versus state forfeiture. And this announcement by the DOJ changes the playing field for which law state and local [law enforcement] is going to prefer."
#13. To: TooConservative (#12)
#14. To: misterwhite (#11)
Uh, yeah. What you said.
#15. To: TooConservative (#12)
#16. To: TooConservative (#12)
#17. To: misterwhite, Deckard (#16)
a) The above civil asset forfeiture was done under Illinois law, not federal.
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