99 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
||
|
|
[ARIZONA REPUBLIC February 20, 1994]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
HOW THE COPS CAN SEIZE YOUR PROPERTY
|
||
|
|
------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
by William P. Cheshire
|
||
|
|
Senior Editorial Columnist
|
||
|
|
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
If you pick up any Wednesday's USA TODAY and turn to the D section,
|
||
|
|
you'll find a full page of cash, cars and real estate that the Drug
|
||
|
|
Enforcement Administration has seized under its
|
||
|
|
property-confiscation authority.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
But all this stuff belonged to drug dealers, and they had it coming,
|
||
|
|
right? Wrong. Those listed, the government is careful to point
|
||
|
|
out, "are not necessarily criminal defendants or suspects, nor does
|
||
|
|
the appearance of their names in this notice necessarily mean that
|
||
|
|
they are the target of DEA investigations or other activities."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
According to Jarret B. Willstein, associate editor of the FINANCIAL
|
||
|
|
PRIVACY REPORT, police seize the property of an estimated 5,000
|
||
|
|
innocent persons every week. (Willstein's article is reprinted in
|
||
|
|
the libertarian publication UNCOMMON SENSE, Box 3625, Kingman, AZ
|
||
|
|
86402.)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
"Agencies now confiscating property from innocent Americans," says
|
||
|
|
Willstein, include the FBI, the Coast Guard, the Food and Drug
|
||
|
|
Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Bureau of Land
|
||
|
|
Management, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the
|
||
|
|
Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as "thousands
|
||
|
|
of state and local police departments."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Volusia County, Fla., police routinely ask people stopped for
|
||
|
|
traffic violations how much money they're carrying, Willstein says.
|
||
|
|
If the motorists have more than a few hundred dollars on them, the
|
||
|
|
money is seized on grounds of "suspicious behavior." Police also
|
||
|
|
seize jewelry and expensive cars. "In the last four years," says
|
||
|
|
Willstein, "these legalized highway robberies have brought in $8
|
||
|
|
million."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
POLICE EYE TRAVELERS
|
||
|
|
-!------------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Even paying for airline tickets can be dangerous. The DEA and local
|
||
|
|
police operate surveillance units at all major airports. According
|
||
|
|
to Willstein, "virtually everyone you deal with at an airport --
|
||
|
|
from the ticket clerks to the baggage handlers -- is paid a 10
|
||
|
|
percent bounty for turning you in to the DEA if you buy a ticket
|
||
|
|
with cash or if you look 'suspicious'."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The CBS program 60 MINUTES sent a well-dressed reporter to airports
|
||
|
|
in several major cities, where he purchased tickets with cash. In
|
||
|
|
every instance DEA agents were waiting to seize his money.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The feds also keep a watchful eye on patrons of major hotels around
|
||
|
|
the country, have installed surveillance cameras at agricultural
|
||
|
|
supply houses and require salesmen to keep a record of people who
|
||
|
|
buy grow-lights, hoping to spot pot farms, Willstein reports.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Local police are no slouches, either.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Texas officers arrested a 49-year-old woman at Houston's Hobby
|
||
|
|
Airport five years ago when a drug dog scratched at her luggage,
|
||
|
|
Willstein says. A search revealed no drugs, but did turn up $39,100
|
||
|
|
-- money from an insurance settlement and the woman's 20-year
|
||
|
|
savings.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
NO CHARGES BROUGHT
|
||
|
|
-!----------------
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The woman was charged with no crime and was able to document the
|
||
|
|
origin of the money. The cops kept it anyway.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Though not mentioned by Willstein, the case of Donald P. Scott shows
|
||
|
|
law enforcement at its worst. Using an improperly obtained search
|
||
|
|
warrant, 30 local and federal law enforcement officers broke down
|
||
|
|
the door of Scott's California home in October 1992. When Scott,
|
||
|
|
armed with a pistol, went to check on the commotion, the cops killed
|
||
|
|
him "in self-defense."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
They said they suspected Scott of growing marijuana, but no
|
||
|
|
marijuana was found. After an exhaustive investigation, Ventura
|
||
|
|
County District Attorney Michael D. Bradbury concluded that the
|
||
|
|
raid "was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to seize and
|
||
|
|
forfeit the ranch for the government."
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
The D.A.'s report added this chilling tidbit: "In order to seize
|
||
|
|
and forfeit property under either California or federal law, there
|
||
|
|
is no requirement that an individual be arrested or charged
|
||
|
|
criminally." Got that?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
You may have thought the Constitution protected you against
|
||
|
|
"unreasonable searches and seizures" and kept the government from
|
||
|
|
taking your property "without due process of law." These are mere
|
||
|
|
words on paper -- words increasingly disregarded by what some
|
||
|
|
people, including yours truly on especially gloomy days, suspect is
|
||
|
|
the vanguard of a police state.
|