Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions w/ local, state police

[Foghorn]

That's pretty close to how I understand it also. However congress wrote the law to allow these adoptions. And I think it should be up to us to tell congress what needs to be changed.
I readily agree the laws need to be reformed, properly used they are a valuable tool but the burden of proof needs to be the same as a criminal case and in conjunction with a criminal prosecution at a minimum. This change will only last until his replacement reverses it. I'd rather see a permanent fix than a political temp fix.

Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape

 

[dennishoddy]

That's pretty close to how I understand it also. However congress wrote the law to allow these adoptions. And I think it should be up to us to tell congress what needs to be changed.
I readily agree the laws need to be reformed, properly used they are a valuable tool but the burden of proof needs to be the same as a criminal case and in conjunction with a criminal prosecution at a minimum. This change will only last until his replacement reverses it. I'd rather see a permanent fix than a political temp fix.

Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape

Yes. The forfeiture before it come to trial, and then the legal wrangling afterward to recover innocent property needs to be streamlined.

 

[_CY_]

aside from who's responsible for such horrible legislation ...

how is it anywhere close to right that your property is treated as guilty until you prove it innocent?

if you are say carrying $17k in cash like example posted earlier, to purchase equipment for your BBQ restaurant and it's seized. it may cost that much or more in legal fees to prove it innocent and reclaim your cash back. you don't even have to be charged to forfeit your cash. a small business losing that much cash on top of paying an attorney at say $250 hour could very well put it out of business.

to me this is an outright dodge of our right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. all a cop has to do is suspect found cash came from drug dealings .. ANY reason will do, their drug dog could very well alert on traces on cash VS charging someone then proving them guilty would require a normal set of proof to pass mustard.

 

[nofearfactor]

If a cop was being cool and all he needed was validation of where you got the large amount of cash in your pocket so that they can be assured that it isnt drug proceeds, cartel money, whatever, then surely you should be able to show them via phone/bank apps pictures of deposits and withdrawels if need be and where they came from if need be, or they can make a call to your bank if it is during bank hours and confirm whatever they need to know about the cash or about you if youre legal. Everything I do with my money I have in my pocket at any time or any of my other financial information is well documented. Im not running any kind of illegal operation. I can pull up pictures of checks I cashed, my deposit slips, direct deposits and transfers to and from my other bank accounts, etc. If thats not enough for them then well its all a scam then just to shake down innocent citizens. I have access to legal representation and I will spend whatever money it takes to defend myself but someone is paying me back if I am found to be totally innocent. This is a bunch of BS if youre a legit business person and a legal citizen just carrying legally obtained money. With that said, I likely wouldnt have been transferring that $17k in cash to pay for my restaurant anyways, a cashier check is only a few bucks at your bank, unless the person they were paying wanted it in cash only, then they should have just met at one of their banks. I do cash deals all the time and will go by my bank to grab the cash and take to a meet up, but then if I dont have to I wont, if at all possible I always prefer to meet people at my or their banks to do large cash business. Just safer, especially with this crap looming around out there.

 

[LightningCrash]

That's pretty close to how I understand it also. However congress wrote the law to allow these adoptions. And I think it should be up to us to tell congress what needs to be changed.
I readily agree the laws need to be reformed, properly used they are a valuable tool but the burden of proof needs to be the same as a criminal case and in conjunction with a criminal prosecution at a minimum. This change will only last until his replacement reverses it. I'd rather see a permanent fix than a political temp fix.

Hopefully someone will be dumb enough to challenge it in court, lose, and it will set a legal precedent.

 

[Riley]

Unfortunately by the retention of this ability to seize, then incorporate to their agency funding, for the government, including Justice, it appears to me to remain practically, a criminal enterprise.

See Sierra Pacific Corp for a recent instances where the private assets and or lives have been significantly impacted by federal prosecutors who are later found to have acted illegally or irresponsibly at least. None of which have been removed from feral service or reprimanded in the least.

Not vouching for the web sites, just a good summary...

Sierra Pacific...
http://aun-tv.com/2014/12/department-justice-accused-suppression-evidence-sierra-pacific-fire-suit/

 

[nofearfactor]

Hopefully someone will be dumb enough to challenge it in court, lose, and it will set a legal precedent.

Bingo.

 

[TedKennedy]

If a cop was being cool and all he needed was validation of where you got the large amount of cash in your pocket so that they can be assured that it isnt drug proceeds, cartel money, whatever, then surely you should be able to show them via phone/bank apps pictures of deposits and withdrawels if need be and where they came from if need be, or they can make a call to your bank if it is during bank hours and confirm whatever they need to know about the cash or about you if youre legal. Everything I do with my money I have in my pocket at any time or any of my other financial information is well documented. Im not running any kind of illegal operation. I can pull up pictures of checks I cashed, my deposit slips, direct deposits and transfers to and from my other bank accounts, etc. If thats not enough for them then well its all a scam then just to shake down innocent citizens. I have access to legal representation and I will spend whatever money it takes to defend myself but someone is paying me back if I am found to be totally innocent. This is a bunch of BS if youre a legit business person and a legal citizen just carrying legally obtained money. With that said, I likely wouldnt have been transferring that $17k in cash to pay for my restaurant anyways, a cashier check is only a few bucks at your bank, unless the person they were paying wanted it in cash only, then they should have just met at one of their banks. I do cash deals all the time and will go by my bank to grab the cash and take to a meet up, but then if I dont have to I wont, if at all possible I always prefer to meet people at my or their banks to do large cash business. Just safer, especially with this crap looming around out there.

Sounds like you just have to be able to provide documentation of how you managed to come into the cash.

"if a cop was being cool" - he wouldn't be going through your personal property to start with. Why the heck should you have to provide documentation to a state employee to prove where you got the cash in your pocket?

 

[Raoul Duke]

Start watching at 3:51

[video=youtube_share;mevVt5sHDNA]http://youtu.be/mevVt5sHDNA[/video]

As shady is the whole affair sounds, it wasn't a one-off. It's part of a concerted effort by some law enforcement to legally target and keep your money without ever filing charges. In fact, the two Iowa state troopers as well as thousands of other state and local cops nationwide learned how to conduct these kinds of stops from private companies. And the biggest one is an Oklahoma company called Desert Snow.

The Desert Snow trainers travel all over the country to hold their workshops, and business is brisk. According to the company's website, 30 seminars are scheduled for 2015 from. From Oregon to Florida, from Delaware to California, and your police department could be one of Desert Snow's clients.

This is the man in-charge of Desert Snow, a former California State highway patrol officer named Joe David. He wouldn't talk with CNN on camera. But a glance at what his company charges police agencies, shows his training isn't cheap. The lowest price for a police force to attend, according to this price list, is a bit over $8,000. And the top end, $145,000.

TUCHMAN: Why would a police department spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to a seminar where it's just something you learn in the police academy?

DOWNEY: Well, they say they teach them more than they'll learn in the police academy, that they have specialized knowledge to teach these officers how to do it even better. I believe the training encourages them to take more cash because the more cash they take, the more cash Joe David is going to get in training materials.

TUCHMAN: Joe David told us he couldn't answer written questions about how many officers he trained or how much money he's made because of a law suit filed by Downey on behalf of those poker players.

As for cop (ph) seizures, he said, "The purpose is not to take and seize funds belonging to innocent people. The purpose is to seize funds when they are tied to criminal activity." But there have never been any charges that the money taken from Bart Davis or John Newmerzhycky has been tied to criminal activity.

[video=youtube_share;GMH-q3xwqt8]http://youtu.be/GMH-q3xwqt8[/video]

[video=youtube_share;b-2luhs7HGE]http://youtu.be/b-2luhs7HGE[/video]

​

 

[nofearfactor]

Sounds like you just have to be able to provide documentation of how you managed to come into the cash.

Like I said I could do that in just a few seonds with my phone, if they would 'let' me.