If the police find that they need more funds in order to carry out their job duties, they shouldn't be looking to take that funding from innocent people who haven't been charged with any wrongdoing.
When you have ex-spouses of police officers having described how law enforcement officers have essentially "gone shopping” under the protection of this policy, looking to take whatever they want so long as they claim the property is linked to a crime, then you should know that you've got a problem.
Is it a policy problem or a people problem?
And that's because the Constitution is supposed to protect against this sort of activity. The Constitution is supposed to protect against the government being able to take whatever it wants without following due process of law. This means that no property should be able to be confiscated without there being proof that a crime was committed and a conviction.
We might have been told that this policy was created to try and take funds from multi-million dollar drug dealers, but that hasn't been the case. Hard-working farmers, car dealers, and other professionals, have been unfairly and unjustly targeted under civil asset forfeiture and it's time for it to come to an end.
Thankfully, there is growing awareness surrounding the absurdity of this policy and many people are learning about the reality of just how much money is being stolen from Americans, many who were never convicted of a crime over it. Various states have sought to push forth their own civil asset forfeiture reform efforts, including most recently Alabama.
About two weeks ago, the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee approved of a bill that's seeking to reform civil asset forfeiture in the state. It's now expected that the bill will see further negotiations before it ends-up on the floor for a vote.
With the changes, if passed, authorities in the state would no longer be able to take property unless there was a criminal conviction in place. Without the conviction, Americans have been regarded as guilty until they prove they are innocent.
Some authorities might find it inconvenient, having to follow proper procedures and respect due process, but it isn't within their job description to do otherwise.
Harming Innocent People
As a car dealer, he can easily make dozens of different transactions in a day. And on one of those occasions, he happened to sell a car to a man who later had been accused of drug dealing.
The police ended-up seizing at least $25k out of one of his business accounts.
After they took the money they also arrested Vibbert. Fast forward to 2016 to when a judge found Vibbert was innocent. However, Vibbert still had to pay thousands to endure the legal costs of hiring his own attorney and he had to play the waiting game, eventually getting his money back after many months following the judge declaring his innocence.
Vibbert lost his life savings, his dealership, and suffered a tarnished reputation in his community as a result of the wrongdoing.
This policy has meant that simple traffic stops have been escalated to people having tens of thousands of dollars, or their own vehicles, confiscated from them. Or their homes and accounts emptied over accusations related to victimless crimes.
It's time to reign in the corruption that is civil asset forfeiture and luckily, there are some lawmakers still around the U.S. who might be interested in doing the same.
Pics:
Pixabay
Sources:
http://www.wkrg.com/news/state-regional/alabama-senate-committee-votes-to-end-civil-forfeiture-by-police/975334256
http://yellowhammernews.com/featured/police-op-ed-begging-alabama-keep-civil-asset-forfeiture-reveals-ugly-truth/
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/alabama/articles/2018-02-14/senate-committee-votes-to-end-civil-forfeiture-by-police
http://altoday.com/archives/21448-senate-committee-votes-end-civil-asset-forfeiture-police
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/02/civil_asset_forfeiture_harms_i.html