Until federal courts put a stop to this insanity, I think congress should pass a bill that cuts off Federal Highway funding to any state that allows this sort of thing to happen.
Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
41–50 of 156 posts
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#42Drive through this county everyday. The tricks they got up their sleeve are impressive if you don’t have a local plate. RIP to Illinois and Cali plates. ETA: Yes, everyday you drive through this county you will see cops searching vehicles (usually out of state plates, CO/CA/IL the most obvious). Almost feel bad for legit people driving through I80 with out of state plates, but the's what happens when you have a low p…
> ... but the's what happens when you have a low population state with a major thoroughfare.
Well, not really - that's what happens when you don't fully fund your law enforcement at a state or federal level and instead leave them to fund themselves through fines and seizures. Local authorities shouldn't be allowed to keep a single penny of anything they seize or any fines they rack up. They should be fully funded by higher-level authorities based on demonstrated need. The current setup is rife with obvious moral hazard.
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#43It’s literally highway robbery.
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#44Wait what? The police there is allowed to straight up rob civilians their cash? Why?
It's a laughably ludicrous violation of the Fourth Amendment. I can only assume that its constitutionality is not challenged in court or is challenged and not upheld. It's unjust, but many of the victims are actual criminals and so nothing is done.
If you read the article you'd see just the opposite. People without any actual charge, or any actual evidence, who have had the state supreme court in Nebraska still side with 'law enforcement'. Because that is modern day policing. Hell, there was a Supreme Court case that sided with law enforcement that they have -no obligation- to protect citizens. It's why you get stuff like Uvalde. The police exist solely to enforce state authority, not to serve and protect.
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a laughably ludicrous violation of the Fourth Amendment. I can only assume that its constitutionality is not challenged in court or is challenged and not upheld. It's unjust, but many of the victims are actual criminals and so nothing is done.
> many of the victims are actual criminals Very few of the victims are criminals. https://www.nemannlawoffices.com/blog/law-enforcement-seized... > One more data point supports this contention: At the federal level, at least, "the vast majority of forfeiture victims are never convicted or charged with a crime," according to Carpenter. Using data obtained via FOIA requests, Carpenter found that 87 percent of federal f…
And, of course, if you -do- agree to just let the money go, they won't actually charge you.
So the people who can afford to lose the money (criminals) get to avoid a charge just by bribing the cops, and the people who did nothing wrong have to pay the cops.
Crooked all around.
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#46This raises a question: why carry that much cash with you? Two things can be true at the same time: cops should not be seizing cash from folks on the side of the road without clear evidence of a crime, and it looks shady as hell if you are traveling with $18k in the backseat of your car.
This country is full of people, both native and recently arrived, who wouldn't trust $18 dollars to a bank, let alone $18,000.
18K is "shady as hell"? Might as well get rid of habeus corpus completely.
Better question is: This is fucking America, where by all accounts money is speech. Why the fuck is anyone taking someone's property without due process in violation of the Fifth Amendment?
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#47Drive through this county everyday. The tricks they got up their sleeve are impressive if you don’t have a local plate. RIP to Illinois and Cali plates. ETA: Yes, everyday you drive through this county you will see cops searching vehicles (usually out of state plates, CO/CA/IL the most obvious). Almost feel bad for legit people driving through I80 with out of state plates, but the's what happens when you have a low p…
> ... but the's what happens when you have a low population state with a major thoroughfare. Well, not really - that's what happens when you don't fully fund your law enforcement at a state or federal level and instead leave them to fund themselves through fines and seizures. Local authorities shouldn't be allowed to keep a single penny of anything they seize or any fines they rack up. They should be fully funded by…
Ftfy: They should be in prison.
It's not our responsibility to fund every bumblefuck police force with a staff of 5 in a town with a population of 500. They shouldn't even have jurisdiction on a federally funded interstate.
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#48Oklahoma used to drain prepaid debit cards too not just cash, not sure if still the case
https://oklahomawatch.org/2016/06/07/new-front-in-civil-forf...
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#49While the cited behaviour is really astonishing, as a EU citizen, I must say that I still find it very curious that somebody drives around the country with that large amount of cash. I'd never (and most people here wouldn't either) travel with more than, say, $1000 in cash, and I would rely on ATM/electronic transactions/checks for additional money. Surely it wouldn't be illegal in any EU country that I know of (but…
> but just any law enforcement would find such an amount of cash suspicious, and probably trigger an investigation
It feels like it's almost illegal to own cash when I read this. Would someone please tell why? It's OK to live in a debt, probably a very high one, buying expensive things like luxury car in credit. Is it forbidden to save cash? If it's OK, then why is it suspicious to travel in a car with cash?
Re: Using loophole, Seward County seizes millions from motorists without convictions
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ... but the's what happens when you have a low population state with a major thoroughfare. Well, not really - that's what happens when you don't fully fund your law enforcement at a state or federal level and instead leave them to fund themselves through fines and seizures. Local authorities shouldn't be allowed to keep a single penny of anything they seize or any fines they rack up. They should be fully funded by…
Ftfy: They should be in prison. It's not our responsibility to fund every bumblefuck police force with a staff of 5 in a town with a population of 500. They shouldn't even have jurisdiction on a federally funded interstate.
Of course they should be in prison, but the goal is also to stop them from doing this in the future, which is easily achievable be eliminating their incentive. They're not going to do it just for the money if they don't get any of it. Once there's no incentive, jail the rest.
> It's not our responsibility to fund every bumblefuck police force with a staff of 5 in a town with a population of 500. They shouldn't even have jurisdiction on a federally funded interstate.
Either fund it or shut it down. Either is fine with me. It's the extant-but-unfunded middle ground that's obviously broken.