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defrog
ITEM [via Neatorama]: Police in the Texas-Louisiana border town of Tenaha (pop. 1046) have allegedly been pulling over people (mainly non-white) passing through town and giving them a choice: voluntarily sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.
The police (and the mayor) say they are merely deploying a search-and-seizure practice under the state's asset-forfeiture law, which permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.
Except that they’ve done this to over 140 people who were never charged with anything.
The process apparently is so routine in Tenaha that Guillory discovered pre-signed and pre-notarized police affidavits with blank spaces left for an officer to describe the property being seized.
Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children—a mixed-race family—were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in east Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane.
After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to purchase a used car—and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn't agree to sign over their right to their cash.
"It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," Boatright said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there."
Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children—a mixed-race family—were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in east Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane.
After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to purchase a used car—and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn't agree to sign over their right to their cash.
"It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," Boatright said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there."
State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee, is hoping to fix the problem with a bill that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property under the asset-forfeiture law.
Cash and carry,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2009-03-12 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-03-13 05:00 am (UTC)I'll try to contain my shock and awe.
no subject
on 2009-03-20 12:35 pm (UTC)