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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| State lawmakers work on bills to limit property seizures by police | |
| 2010-02-15 | |
| Efforts are under way to change Michigan's civil forfeiture laws that allow police to seize property without proving a crime occurred. You mean search and seizure would have to be reasonable? How Fourth Amendmenty.... State law allows police to take property, usually vehicles, for any reason, even in the absence of criminal activity. A Detroit News investigation in November found that vehicles sometimes are seized even when police admit no crime took place. "It's not unreasonable search and seizure. It's just a case of the state saying 'gimme yer stuff.'" Two Michigan lawmakers are working on separate bills that would restrict police power over civil seizures. I'm trying to figure why we have courts... Meanwhile, a candidate for Wayne County sheriff, who was in charge of a department that seized thousands of vehicles over the past four years, says, if elected, he would overhaul the seizure process in Wayne County. "Under the current ordinance, there doesn't have to be a crime proven in order to seize someone's vehicle," said Walter Epps, a former Wayne County sheriff's lieutenant who ran the department's Morality Squad for more than four years.
How about getting a felony conviction before they've gotta give anything up? In one case, The News found that officers from the Morality Squad seized a Southgate man's vehicle after he talked to a decoy prostitute -- even though the undercover officer admitted in her written report that the man hadn't solicited her during their brief conversation. I'm trying to figure when we came up with a Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices... In another case, a Red Cross employee's vehicle was seized by the Morality Squad after she picked up a co-worker at a Detroit bank. Because the vehicle owner's co-worker had stood on a street corner making eye contact with passing motorists while waiting for her ride, police determined she was acting like a prostitute, even though she never was charged for soliciting. It's too bad we don't have a constitutional amendment prohibiting that sort of thing... Motorists must pay $900, plus towing and storage fees, to get their vehicles back; otherwise, they become property of the seizing agency and usually are sold at auction. The word you're probably looking for is "rapacious." Two state lawmakers also are trying to pass laws to prevent police in Michigan from seizing people's property without officially accusing them of a crime. State Rep. Gabe Leland, D-Detroit, introduced a package of bills in December that would require police to seek charges before seizing property. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 And I hear about Alabama being backwards! We are just now getting laws so peoples cars can be impounded if they have no liscence and insurance. Mostly pointed at illegal aliens (works)! Thats one thing I like about Alabama, we have practical laws, If the law isn't practical, the people ignore it and the law won't enforce it. |
| Posted by: notascrename 2010-02-15 23:27 |
| #6 FWIW the song as performed by Steve Goodman |
| Posted by: Don Vito Anginegum8261 2010-02-15 19:18 |
| #5 The Lincoln Park Pirates by Steve Goodman The streetlamps are on in Chicago tonight, and lovers are gazin' at stars. The stores are all closing and Daley is dozing, and the Fat Man is counting the cars. "And there's more cars than places to put 'em" he says, "But I've got room for some more. So round 'em up boys, 'cause I want some more toys. Hit the lot by the grocery store!" To me way, hey, tow them away! The Lincoln Park Pirates are we. From Wilmette to Gary, there's nothing so hairy, and we always collect our fee. To me way, hey, tow them away! We plunder the streets of your town! Be it Edsel or Chevy, there's no car too heavy, and no one can make us shut down! We break into cars when we gotta, With pickax and hammer and saw, And they say this garage has no license. But little care I for the law. All my drivers and friendly and courteous, Their good manners you always will get, 'Cause they all are recent graduates of the charm school in Joliet." (Chorus) And when all the cars are collected, and all of their fenders are ruined, Then I'll tow every boat in Belmont Harbor to the Lincoln Park Lagoon. And when I've collected the ransom, and sunk all the ones that won't yield, Then I'll tow all the planes that are blocking the runway at Midway, OHare and Meigs* Fields! (Chorus) "To me way, hey, tow them away!" Now citizens, gather around, I think it's enough. Let's call his bluff. Let's tow the bum out of town! *Meigs Field was the airport at the lakefront, near the Planetarium, that King Daley II ordered bulldozed in the middle of the night to cut short further discussion of whether or not to keep it. |
| Posted by: mom 2010-02-15 12:26 |
| #4 If a police department can make a good living from crime, why would they want it to go away? Especially when dropping tax revenues force cutbacks in funding of police departments, as is happening nationwide. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-15 10:18 |
| #3 The seizure and forfeiture of property and cash has gotten out of control everywhere, not just Detroit. Forfeiture gives the police a vested interest in on-going criminal enterprises like the drug trade. Economics is all about incentives. If a police department can make a good living from crime, why would they want it to go away? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-02-15 09:57 |
| #2 What will off-duty policemen drive if they can't steal people's cars legally? |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2010-02-15 09:54 |
| #1 Motorists must pay $900, plus towing and storage fees, to get their vehicles back; otherwise, they become property of the seizing agency and usually are sold at auction. Of course nothing to do, nothing at all mind you... with gangster towing companies and crooked cop kickbacks. This is Deetroit, right? Let me see, what Federal Bureau might be responsible for having a look into this type of activitiy? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-02-15 04:17 |