AlterNet reports New Mexico Ends "Policing for Profit"
In a historic move, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) [on April 10] signed into law a bill that will end civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement in the state, a practice widely known as "policing for profit." The measure is House Bill 560
Under civil asset forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize someone's property without ever charging them with a crime, let alone convicting them. Police can then funnel many of those assets, including cash seizures, back to their own departments, creating a vicious cycle of more profit-driven law enforcement providing more resources to law enforcement for more profit-driven law enforcement.
"This is a good day for the Bill of Rights," said [American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico] Executive Director Peter Simonson. "For years, police could seize people's cash, cars, and houses without even accusing anyone of a crime. Today, we have ended this unfair practice in New Mexico and replaced it with a model that is just and constitutional."
The practice of asset forfeiture has been coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism in recent years as cases of abuse become more widely known. The Obama administration Justice Department has in the past few months taken steps to address asset forfeiture abuse at the federal level, and asset forfeiture reform bills have been introduced in a number of states this year. The governor of Wyoming vetoed one last month.
New Mexico is the first state where such a bill has passed, and it now has the strongest asset forfeiture protections in the county. The bill passed the legislature unanimously.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:45AM
They are also easier to respond to in a way that makes it seem as though you are important, but then the original email is deleted.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:50PM
Huh, wut? Never deleted, my friend. All those letters are archived in Utah, at the new NSA facility. Archived against the day that some secret agency of the US government (or one of the five eyes) decides that they must make a case against you. THEN all of those archives are gone over with a fine toothed comb, searching for some freudian slip, anything to nail you with. You may be an unimportant nobody today, but someday, you may very well cross someone important, and Uncle will remember EVERYTHING that you've had to say!!