Property seizures seen as piracy

Property seizures seen as piracy

www.mysanantonio.com

TENAHA — A two-decade-old state law that grants authorities the power to seize property used in crimes is wielded by some agencies against people who never are charged with — much less convicted of — criminal activity.

Law enforcement authorities in this East Texas town of 1,000 people seized property from at least 140 motorists between 2006 and 2008, and, to date, filed criminal charges against fewer than half, according to a review of court documents by the San Antonio Express-News.

Virtually anything of value was up for grabs: cash, cell phones, personal jewelry, a pair of sneakers, and often, the very car that was being driven through town.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Worried about Somali pirates? No need, just drive through texas, where we have our very own pirates---Law enforcement officials.

Here, they can LEGALLY steal from you, and divide up their "booty", without you ever even commiting a crime or being charged for one!

Way to go Texas! Land of the free! Woo-hoo!

www.mysanantonio.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is disturbing to see... These people need to start filing lawsuits against said Law Enforcement agencies and get this sorted out... Very disturbing.

Once again it's Texas !

how much Robber Baron economics does it take for the rest of the country and the Feds to smell a rats nest?

stay tuned for another century and a half of fraud ,ID theft, bogus insurance scams,money laundering ,drug smuggling ,legal property theft, judicial misconduct, nepotism ,political corruption,corporate mis conduct ,tax evasion,criminal police misconduct, perjury ,loan sharking,peanut butter salmonella!

Brought to you by the Good 'Ole Boys Network of the Lone Star State!

Sadly I don't think abuses like this are ever going to stop, they happen all over the place.

Authority positions are magnets for psychopaths with control issues, and while there are certainly good cops out there, there are always going to be nutcases in uniform. Sadly, its hard to screen for that sort of behavior, and most of the time its tolerated. People fear the police, so they give up their possessions in hope that they won't be beaten or locked in a cage.

Sometimes I think we should just go back to being a vigilante society, at least that way you could tell the honest people from the bad, and criminals couldn't hide behind badges.

reply to post by invisiblewoman


Im fairly sure stuff like this happens all over the country my friend, and is not limited to Texas. I used to live in Virginia, and trust me Good Ole Boy networks are all around us.

It's called forfeiture. It has been around since the 'war on drugs' started. All they need is an affadavit from a crooked cop saying you are involved in the drug trade....and bam! They can confiscate houses, cars and anything else they please. They like small internet companies and web forums that have lots of good hardware they can use and sell.

They have also started doing this for other 'crimes'. CA has a vehicle emissions law that does that.

Originally posted by drwizardphd
...and while there are certainly good cops out there, ...

No there isn't. Otherwise, they would stop the corrupt ones.

Usually I think of Texas as having good laws, reasonable intelligent laws. But this, this is pure corruptive malfeasance.

These Police precincts are using this law to profit themselves. How much you want to bet that the precinct just so happens to have a 60in plasma in the lunch room.

I am disappointed in Texas on this one.

reply to post by Desolate Cancer


CA LE has been hip to this scam for a while, Florida too. The last time I got a ticket the motorcycle cop had a wireless, thermal printer that printed the ticket.

Be assured they do have that plasma TV. It was probably in someone's living room the day before.

Like GTORick said, Texas isn't alone in this little game, at certain levels, our 'law enforcement' efforts need to be a bit more 'introspective'.

But I would rather not have my car towed, so I won't say more....

The county of Kaufman, TX has had the vehicle I used to make a living and the hundreds of dollars worth of tools and equipment that is in it for a year and four months now. They claim I was using the car to commit vandalism. I just this month received a first court date. It’s harassment and intimidation pure and simple. Submit completely or you can expect this and much worse. Or you can stand up and do something about it. Just count the cost first.

reply to post by resistor


Holy crap. How could you use your vehicle for VANDALISM? I hope you get it back, and I hope you get compensation for this.

Like others said, this appears to be widespread and underreported, but Texas may well be the most blatant at the moment. Absolutely DISGUSTING that we allow this type of criminality from people whose salaries WE PAY with our tax tollars, all the way up to the courts who legalize this type of filth.