Gov't confiscating cars

[ladder13]

Drunken drivers, drag racers can lose cars | LoHud.com | The Journal News

In Westchester County NY, the county police will be seizing the cars of people who drag race and get caught DWI.
What's next seizing the private parts of Johns?

[J. Galt]

Due process is an antiquated idea.

(Sarcasm!)

[BlackAgnes]

Mike--

If you want to get frightened, read up on seizure and forfeiture proceedings. A person does not have to be charged with any crime to have his property seized, nor does he have the right to a court-appointed attorney to represent his interests, since the government uses civil courts to effect the seizure.

The original idea was to deprive drug dealers of the fruits of their criminal activities, but the process has been used as a cash-cow for criminal justice administrators and is often used for petty crimes--a woman in Michigan lost her car to seizure because her husband was caught patronizing a prostitute in it. In a particularly egregious case, a black man was observed buying a plane ticket with a large amount of cash--the feds were notified by the nosy ticket agent and they seized his cash--about 8K as I recall--and he got back only a fraction of it after years of litigation. He was never charged with a crime. He was a nurseryman, headed to another state to buy trees.

Seizure and forfeiture was a well-intended initiative whose original intent has been corrupted by cash-greedy LE administrators at the local, state, and federal levels.

Expect to see more abuses like this. Absolute power corrupts...etc.

Tim

[M28]

Did I miss the part in the article that indicated that due process would not be involved? I read the article twice and didn't see anything about a rig being confiscated at the scene of the accident. Maybe I missed it.

I don't know what the numbers are for injuries and deaths due to drag racing on the streets, but I'm quite familiar with the numbers for impaired driving and it's a national disgrace that it isn't dealt with in harsher terms. I'd be all for it as long as the due process aspects weren't left in the dust.

Brian~

[BlackAgnes]

It depends what your definition of "due process" is.

Remember, these seizures and forfeitures are preponderantly CIVIL actions, requiring the government only to show a "preponderance of evidence" in order to keep your stuff. The government has unlimited resources and thousands of lawyers on staff. Do you?

And, unless you are charged with a crime in connection with the seizure (not required!), you must hire your own lawyer to help you get your property back. That may cost you more than the property is worth, and the government knows it. Many people do not pursue reclamation simply because of the cost.

Like many freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, the intent of the text is whatever a court says it is.

Here is the Fourth Amendment:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The government plays fast and loose with this kind of verbiage. What is "unreasonable?" What is "probable cause?"

..and the biggie, "what is due process?"

The program stinks and invites all manner of exploitation. We need to be careful about making things too easy for law enforcement officials by ceding our rights to them....

...just sayin'....!


Tim

[OKFC05]

As much as I dislike drug dealers, drunk drivers, and drag racers, there is no denying that every Constitutional Right that has been compromised "just to use against criminals" has come back to bite the average citizen, and lessened everybody's freedom.

If property is to be confiscated by the Government, it should it be done by a Judge AFTER the person is convicted of a crime--not by the police on suspicion AS IT IS BEING DONE NOW. Ask the camper whose private plane was confiscated and sold for drug smuggling BEFORE THE LAB RESULTS CAME BACK SHOWING THE WHITE POWDER WAS NOT AN ILLEGAL DRUG--just hot breakfast cereal mix.