This is in my city. Even as a religious person, I can't see what this will do. The inner-city who are afraid of the police aren't going to trust a bunch of white clergymen.
In other egregious american police news: In 2010 a DEA Agent set up a Facebook account in the name of a woman still awaiting trial and posted pictures of her as well as her children taken from the seized cell phone of the woman, in an attempt to gain entry into a drug ring. The DOJ is now arguing that this identity theft is A-OK.
I had no idea that Civil Forfeiture was a thing that existed. Can't be corrupt if corruption is legal.
Sweet Seizing Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with you americans?
Now this is a really, really fucked up situation, but I'm also not quite sure why people are even carrying this much cash around. Don't you have bank cards? I basically never carry more than 70€ in cash in my wallet and pretty much any major purpose is done with my ATM card (almost all businesses here have special terminals for paying with these) or credit card. At least this way you could not be robbed either by common criminals or uniformed criminals.
There are many reasons to carry cash, not the least of which being that cash is legal to own.
As was shown in the video one man was going to buy a car. You also have problems with migrant workers heading home and having their cash confiscated.
What is too much money to have on hand? If I win the lottery I plan on hiring someone to carry a briefcase of $100 bills for me.
These civil forfeiture laws were written to allow the government to hurt criminals in a larger way than just sending them to jail. However they are also bring misused by law enforcement to get their own payday.
If you win the lottery you have proof of why you have so much cash. You won't get your cash seized (or you will get it back).
If you work under the table you aren't paying taxes and you're breaking the law. The civil forfeiture laws do apply to you, even if that might not have been the intent.
I had no idea that Civil Forfeiture was a thing that existed. Can't be corrupt if corruption is legal.
Sweet Seizing Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with you americans?
Now this is a really, really fucked up situation, but I'm also not quite sure why people are even carrying this much cash around. Don't you have bank cards? I basically never carry more than 70€ in cash in my wallet and pretty much any major purpose is done with my ATM card (almost all businesses here have special terminals for paying with these) or credit card. At least this way you could not be robbed either by common criminals or uniformed criminals.
To be fair I too have withdrawn and carried more than $5000 to outright buy a car, this way I had a bargaining tool to buy the car with the paperwork right there so that the seller could get rid of it rather than wait around for a day or two with an incrementally better offer.
I agree totally with your reaction though, I was completely surprised that this exists in the world.
I would say we should just issue less-lethal weapons instead, but there have been enough instances of taser abuse that I'm not sure that's a good idea either. Something seems to be Fundamentally Wrong with the process.
Maybe, I dunno, some kind of psychological screening and appropriate training? And maybe de-militarizing?
Shit man, I don't know. I used to think Second Amendment Crusaders were off-base - how are you going to stop the military with your civilian firearms? But it seems that abuse at the hands of local law enforcement is way more likely.
Well, even if the police were just as trigger happy and sociopathic with less lethal weapons as they are with lethal ones, at least most of the people they assaulted wouldn't be dead.
Well, even if the police were just as trigger happy and sociopathic with less lethal weapons as they are with lethal ones, at least most of the people they assaulted wouldn't be dead.
So it would still be better.
This is true. A temporary fix might be to issue less-lethal weapons to rookies, and leave actual firearms to more experienced or specialized police.
SWAT teams, for example, actually train to use firearms in a respectful and responsible manner. There's exceedingly little reason for a patrol officer to be armed with a lethal weapon, and you could leave lethal weapon deployment to special calls. Makes more sense from a legal system standpoint anyhow - forcing the majority of officers to incapacitate alleged criminals would allow for fair trials and such.
We don't need a nation of blue-clad Judge Dredd wannabes.
Well, even if the police were just as trigger happy and sociopathic with less lethal weapons as they are with lethal ones, at least most of the people they assaulted wouldn't be dead.
So it would still be better.
That's assuming that they're not even more trigger-happy with non-lethal weapons, which is almost certainly the case. I still think it's a good idea overall, but it would lead to more cases that were individually less bad.
Comments
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-south-carolina-state-trooper-charged-over-traffic-stop-shooting-n211156
Now this is a really, really fucked up situation, but I'm also not quite sure why people are even carrying this much cash around. Don't you have bank cards? I basically never carry more than 70€ in cash in my wallet and pretty much any major purpose is done with my ATM card (almost all businesses here have special terminals for paying with these) or credit card. At least this way you could not be robbed either by common criminals or uniformed criminals.
As was shown in the video one man was going to buy a car. You also have problems with migrant workers heading home and having their cash confiscated.
What is too much money to have on hand? If I win the lottery I plan on hiring someone to carry a briefcase of $100 bills for me.
These civil forfeiture laws were written to allow the government to hurt criminals in a larger way than just sending them to jail. However they are also bring misused by law enforcement to get their own payday.
If you work under the table you aren't paying taxes and you're breaking the law. The civil forfeiture laws do apply to you, even if that might not have been the intent.
I agree totally with your reaction though, I was completely surprised that this exists in the world.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2014/11/greenacres_cop_jared_nash_accused_of_breaking_14-year-old_girls_arm_during_arrest.php
*mind explodes*
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/nypd-officer-guns-man-28-brooklyn-housing-project-article-1.2018724
Fuck this. I'm done. Most US police officers shouldn't be allowed to even carry guns.
I honestly want to disarm the majority of police officers. I honestly fear our own police more than any criminal or terrorist.
Maybe, I dunno, some kind of psychological screening and appropriate training? And maybe de-militarizing?
Shit man, I don't know. I used to think Second Amendment Crusaders were off-base - how are you going to stop the military with your civilian firearms? But it seems that abuse at the hands of local law enforcement is way more likely.
So it would still be better.
SWAT teams, for example, actually train to use firearms in a respectful and responsible manner. There's exceedingly little reason for a patrol officer to be armed with a lethal weapon, and you could leave lethal weapon deployment to special calls. Makes more sense from a legal system standpoint anyhow - forcing the majority of officers to incapacitate alleged criminals would allow for fair trials and such.
We don't need a nation of blue-clad Judge Dredd wannabes.