ha, that right. a clown.
i figured this is the correct forum.
www.washingtonpost.com...
police agencies have used hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Americans under federal civil forfeiture law in recent years to buy guns, armored
cars and electronic surveillance gear.
They have also spent money on luxury vehicles, travel and a clown named Sparkles
The details are contained in thousands of annual reports submitted by local and state agencies to the Justice Department’s Equitable Sharing
Program, an initiative that
allows local and state police to keep up to 80 percent of the assets they seize
The documents offer a sweeping look at how police departments and drug task forces across the country are
benefiting from laws that allow them to
take cash and property without proving a crime has occurred. The law was meant to decimate drug organizations, but The Post found that it has been
used as a routine source of funding for law enforcement at every level.
-------------------------------
kind of in awe.
i know the cops seize money and property all the time. they auction of vehicles and houses. ive always figured they used the cash they have taken to
buy things for the department. i also just assumed it was the property and cash of people that get convicted or at the very least indicted.
this article is saying they are keeping loads of cash when there is not even an indictment filed. theyre buying $600 coffee makers and renting a clown
for 'community relations'..
-----then this
Owners must prove that their money or property was acquired legally in order to get it back
i was thinking about this and that might not be that easy in a lot of cases. everything in my house i acquired legally but i doubt i can prove it.
i paid cash for my tv at wal mart a year ago. i cant prove it though. i dont have that receipt. same thing for just about everything in my house.
what about if youre driving around with a couple hundo in your pocket?even if you are gainfully employed how do you prove the money came from your job
and not a drug deal?
i wonder how many are supplementing their income via 'routine' traffic stops? you know, pull over a couple on their way to the movies for doing 5 over
then bracing them and taking their stuff.
edit*
this sounds to me like a near perfect scam really.
they have a law that allows for this to happen. well not this exactly but then they bend it a little bit.
tada....new source of income.
sounds like an easy thing. prove that you got your stuff legally.
maybe it should be but i would not be able to prove that for a lot of my stuff.
i also buy a lot of stuff at garage sales and goodwill. i pick up stuff that people are throwing away.....i get stuff from the craigslist free and
barter sections a lot. hard to prove legally for a lot of my things.
.
edit on 12-10-2014 by CardiffGiant because: (no reason given)