[blackshoe]

kenberg, on 2014-November-11, 13:07, said:

To my mind this is very wrong and I do think it create disrespect for the police, an attitude which will spill over to cops who do not engage in such conduct. I wish the plaintiffs well in their suit.

It has already created disrespect for the police.

[kenberg]

I have ben examining my thoughts about just why I find the practice so repulsive. When I was 17 or so, it was not rare to have cops treat me like "You are 17, you are guilty of something". There were times that they were right, but mostly they were not. Bill, earlier, commented that someone carrying around 100K in cash is likely to be guilty of doing something or planning something and no doubt this is also often right but not always. Still, fundamentally, if someone is to be punished you have to prove he is guilty of something, and the something he is guilty of should have some relevance to the punishment. Having a gadget for preparing marijuana may, depending on the jurisdiction, make you guilty of something but it is absurd to have the punishment be that the police can take all the money you have with you. One pothead has twenty-five bucks taken, another guy has 100K taken. It is not in any way demonstrated that the violation has anything to do with the money that was seized. In the case in the article, and in other cases in other of the Post's articles, it seems pretty clear that the money and the offense were unrelated. Or, at the very least, there is no demonstration that they are related.

This just can't be right. I really cannot see how it can be within the bounds either of the Constitution or of good sense, it is far outside my views of proper legal authority, it should be stopped.

[barmar]

jeffford76, on 2014-November-11, 18:13, said:

John Oliver had a humorous, but serious piece on civil forfeiture recently: https://www.youtube....h?v=3kEpZWGgJks

Right, that's where I heard about it.

I should have remembered that it was somewhere more reliable than a regular news report.

[billw55]

kenberg, on 2014-November-11, 16:24, said:

But now imagine yourself a cop engaged in this stuff, almost certainly because you are told to do it. You realize that effectively you are the bag man. You take money that isn't yours and give it to someone, and it isn't theirs either. You might stop to think a bit, might you not? I mean no disresepect at all here, but I would be thinking maybe next time I will "find" only 75K.

Yep. Every time I read/see a news story about a drug bust where cash and/or product was seized, I wonder how much was really there.

[barmar]

billw55, on 2014-November-12, 11:33, said:

Yep. Every time I read/see a news story about a drug bust where cash and/or product was seized, I wonder how much was really there.

I wonder how much TV shows like "The Shield" have contributed to attitudes like this.

I still like to be optimistic and assume that corrupt cops are the exception, not the rule.

[kenberg]

barmar, on 2014-November-13, 10:35, said:

I wonder how much TV shows like "The Shield" have contributed to attitudes like this.

I still like to be optimistic and assume that corrupt cops are the exception, not the rule.

Yes, me too.
I think, psychologically, there are two quite different situations:

1. A cop who takes his job seriously, your basic cop, is faced with temptation when they bring down a drug operation. Maybe he succumbs, but I also think that most don't. There are, no doubt, some safeguards.

2. A cop gets involved in a scuzzy scheme like the one in the article. He is told to take this cash, that it is his job to take this cash, but I would guess many would not feel all that good about it. Here he is already part of something where the higher ups are taking money because they can, and I can well imagine a guy thinking ok, where's my cut.

I really hope they can get this stopped, i don't think it is good for trust, or for morale, or for much of anything.

[mike777]

To be fair I am sure some cops need the graft to pay the bills.

Given as Ferguson and this thread shows so many many people don't trust the police this breeds a culture that is even more willing to accept graft if people already think you are on the take or out to murder young men.