Maybe I am misreading this statement or interpreting it differently. To me, this says the cops can do whatever the hell they want and no one cares as long as the courts fix it. Any thoughts?
Yes, this is the law when it comes to civil forfeiture. Except it's "probable cause" instead of "whatever the hell they want", which is close to but not quite the same. And no one cares even if the courts don't fix it.
Asset seizure and forfeiture was originally intended for the drug trade, but was extremely quickly expanded to many different things. Basically, pick all the "for the children" buzzwords and asset seizure can be applied. The laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Sometimes the money is split between the prosecution and the cops. Sometimes the cops transfer the goods to the feds, who kick them back a percentage in cash. The situation is obviously filled with official and unofficial corruption.
It's a relatively "young" violation of civil liberties. Not legalized theft, per se, but the current iteration of asset seizure.
$27 million in 1985
$644 million in 1991
>$1 billion in 1996
$3.1 billion in 2008
http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-forfeiture-racket/singlepageThat's starting to get to "actual money" even by Washington standards. DEA and other agencies also try to stay under the amounts that provide incentive to sue for the return of your cash. If the local cops seize a couple hundred bucks from your wallet, your nice but not high value older model sports car, etc. you're going to think long and hard before suing. If you win, you still pay for the lawyer and the local cops now have you on their radar. If you are smart, you move to another jurisdiction. If you lose, you still have to pay for your lawyer and often court fees. It's a binary "lose some" or "lose big" situation, regardless of guilt or innocence, as C&SD was quick not to point out.
This is not exactly idle to me. I went through this. I was off doing field exercises when my roommate called CQ that the cops were planning on towing my two cars. They were off the road, in a private lot. Township laws forbid cars with expired tags, regardless of whether they were on public or private property. I explained to the police that SSCRA took legal precedence over their township rules. Also, I could not renew the tags because I was in the middle of nowhere, with artillery rounds going outbound overhead. I'd face AWOL charges if I complied.
The young officer told me he would impound both if they didn't have new tags, and hung up. CO called JAG. JAG ignored the local cops, and called the magistrate. Magistrate called chief, with JAG on line. Magistrate used ... strong language. Magistrate was in the 82nd, and looked unkindly upon the situation. Chief apologized.
Cop tried anyways. I got the one car hidden in time. The other was impounded by the time a buddy could get the key and try to move it. Also, someone used a lockgun on my door, moved around items but did not steal anything. I know lockpicking. Someone with no training but relatively expensive equipment opened my door. It would not be local kids, and criminals would have stolen the easily fenced items.
It wasn't a nice car, and it would have exceeded the value to try to recover it. Even with a friendly magistrate. I had to go to the locals to get finger printed for my Top Secret clearance immediately afterwards. Six officers "escorted" me during my fingerprinting. Thank the Gods one of the officers recognized me from college, and was a good police officer. He was a good cop back at the university, and still was a good cop. He did his best even after his supervisors made it clear crimes were not to be reported so university crime stats looked artificially good. As I said, honest and honorable man. So I made it out of the station without problem, after he subtly "vouched" for me.
I moved. Immediately. Sure, I searched the place top to bottom, but I know how easy it is to snowflake someone. Anything I couldn't pack in two days, I threw out. Anything I couldn't easily verify as sterile, I threw out. I was legally in the clear twelve ways to Sunday, but it did not matter. It was a fight I would lose, even if I had boatloads of cash. Which I didn't as a PFC. Respectfully, C&SD, there are a dozen if not hundred cases like mine every day. And that number will increase as laws become more and more draconian.