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posted by martyb on Friday December 11 2015, @12:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-above-the-law dept.

Earlier this year, the state of New Mexico passed one of the most solid pieces of asset forfeiture reform legislation in the country. All it asked for was what most people would consider to be common sense: if the government is going to seize assets, the least it could do in return is tie the seizure to a conviction.

Now, the state is finding out that bad habits are hard to break. CJ Ciaramella reports that the government is going after another part of the government for its refusal to stop taking stuff without securing a conviction.

Two New Mexico state senators are suing Albuquerque after the city has refused to stop seizing residents' cars, despite a law passed earlier this year ending the practice of civil asset forfeiture.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, New Mexico state senators Lisa Torraco and Daniel Ivey-Soto said Albuquerque is defying the new law and "has continued to take property using civil forfeiture without requiring that anyone--much less the property owner--be convicted of a crime."

These would be the two senators who pushed for the much-needed reform. They managed to get the law passed, but Albuquerque (along with other cities in the state) haven't shown much interest in altering their tactics. The only incentive the new law has on its side is the threat of legal action or legislative pressure. The old incentives--hundreds of thousands of dollars--are still motivating local law enforcement.

Previous: Albuquerque Cops "Comply" with Records Request by Encrypting the Videos


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 11 2015, @01:06AM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday December 11 2015, @01:06AM (#274735) Homepage

    This would not be a problem if Whites were not allowed to be police officers or work for police departments. You tell a White to do something, he or she does the exact opposite. Whites have done nothing but turn police departments into protection rackets and hit squads. It should be mentioned here that Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham were both Whites.

    Around Whites, you have no rights.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:15AM (#274740)

    Mexicans, Central/South Americans, Arabs, and africans, and see which of them won't sieze your assets, legally or otherwise on a daily basis.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @01:48AM (#274753)

    So was Robin Hood.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @02:37AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @02:37AM (#274778)

      Robin Hood was checking his privilege by giving away stolen riches to uglier people.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @05:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @05:58AM (#274825)
    The only White in Albuquerque I remember was Walter.
  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday December 11 2015, @08:37PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 11 2015, @08:37PM (#275138) Journal

    Good analogy to reasoning too often heard. It seems to have gone over the head of a few people, though.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.