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posted by martyb on Friday October 07 2016, @08:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the legalized-theft-is-illegal-again dept.

TechDirt reports

After years of civil asset forfeiture abuse, legislators are finally fighting back. Reform bills have been offered up all over the country. Unfortunately, very few of them have made it to state governors' desks intact.

The Free Thought Project continues

California Governor Jerry Brown recently [September 29] signed into law a piece of legislation requiring police to secure an actual conviction before stealing people's stuff in drug-related offenses.

Civil asset forfeiture has been rightly likened to state-sanctioned armed robbery as it allows police to commandeer cash, vehicles, homes, or any property of value--even if the person is never charged with a crime--and then use or sell the items for profit for their departments.

Police in Oklahoma, for example, recently honed their thievery by rolling out nefarious Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machines, known as ERAD, which can scan your bank account and prepaid cards, and--if an officer believes any balances are tied to a crime--can wipe those accounts dry.

California's new law, formerly Senate Bill 443, quashes this nightmarish policing-for-profit in the exact way advocates of civil asset forfeiture (CAF) reform have been demanding for years.

[Continues...]

TechDirt also notes

Not only does the law contain a conviction requirement--something that should greatly reduce the amount of abuse--but it closes a loophole [that] law enforcement agencies love using to route around state-level restrictions.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, police departments in California will be largely prohibited from transferring seized property to federal agencies in order to sidestep state conviction requirements. The legislation forbids the transfer of property, like vehicles and homes, and specifically raises the threshold on cash seizures, requiring the government to obtain a conviction before permanently confiscating any amount under $40,000. (The previous cap was $25,000.) For larger cash seizures, authorities must provide "clear and convincing" evidence of a connection to criminal activity before taking the money for good.

Previous: Civil Asset Forfeiture Goes Digital [ERAD]
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  • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Friday October 07 2016, @09:28PM

    by zugedneb (4556) on Friday October 07 2016, @09:28PM (#411617)

    wtf, can't u read?

    the op said he would trust the yakuza more, tha measn he wants other owners.

    the people say the kings and and presidents are shit, they want other owners, and guess who these other owners are...

    so wtf would happen if you would answer my question instead of deliberately not understanding what is written?

    --
    old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax