Holder issues order to rein in cops

Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police - The Washington Post

This might be the most important thing Holder has done as AG and one of the most significant police reforms of this century.

All credit to the Washington Post for making this happen. Their series on police seizures got all this going.

 

Let's see Friday afternoon going into a long weekend. Yeah they wanted to really publicize this one.

 

Intense video of cop killing passenger during traffic stop in Jersey.

Video: Black Man Fatally Shot by NJ Cops Apparently Had Hands Raised

 

Holder seizes $3.8 million in conjunction with an arrest, not a conviction:

 

cool documentary on Black Panther party

 

I'm guessing Jay opposes the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as AG:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) yesterday brought up asset forfeiture to gauge Lynch's position. He wanted to know whether Lynch thought the way the Department of Justice in partnership with local law enforcement agencies handle criminal and more particularly civil asset forfeiture was "fair."

Lynch responded that "civil and criminal forfeiture are very important tools of the Department of Justice as well as our state and local counterparts." Speaking directly about civil asset forfeiture, she claimed that such forfeiture is "done pursuant to supervision by a court, it is done pursuant to court order, and I believe the protections are there."

That would come as news to the three brothers of the Hirsch family in Long Island. In 2012, they saw $447,000 of their assets seized by the IRS and the Department of Justice over an allegation that their business Bi-County Distributors, which delivers snack foods to convenience stores, was deliberately depositing cash deposits in amounts smaller than $10,000 in order to avoid IRS reporting requirements.

It was Lynch's office who handled this seizure and Lynch's office who kept the company's money for more than two years without ever setting a court date for the business to attempt to get its money back, nor was anybody in the family ever charged with any crime. The asset-forfeiture-fighting lawyers of the Institute for Justice (IJ) took on the Hirsch family's case, and just earlier this very month, Lynch's office agreed to give them their money back.

AG Nominee Loretta Lynch Says Civil Asset Forfeiture ‘Protections Are There.’ Not When Her Office Ignores Them. - Hit & Run : Reason.com


In an editorial published November 22, “Loretta Lynch’s Money Pot,” the Wall Street Journal revealed that during her tenure as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Ms. Lynch has used civil asset forfeiture in more than 120 cases, raking in some $113 million for federal and local coffers.

Loretta Lynch Has No Problem With Civil Asset Forfeiture -- And That's A Problem - Forbes

 

Good thing Holder reined them in.





Here's an interesting factoid about contemporary policing: In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did. Martin Armstrong pointed this out at his blog, Armstrong Economics, last week.

Officers can take cash and property from people without convicting or even charging them with a crime — yes, really! — through the highly controversial practice known as civil asset forfeiture. Last year, according to the Institute for Justice, the Treasury and Justice departments deposited more than $5 billion into their respective asset forfeiture funds. That same year, the FBI reports that burglary losses topped out at $3.5 billion.

 

Not busting your chops here, but the libertarian-ish right has been raising hell about asset forfeiture for years. The Koch brothers, Cato, the Institute for Justice, etc.

When government is the looter

 

This actually helped me today. Thanks!