Posted on 04/04/2016 10:56:04 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Some great news in asset forfeiture reform is coming out of Florida. S.B. 1044, approved by the legislature earlier in the month, was signed into law today by Gov. Rick Scott.
The big deal with this particular reform is that, in most cases, Florida police will actually have to arrest and charge a person with a crime before attempting to seize and keep their money and property under the state's asset forfeiture laws. One of the major ways asset forfeiture gets abused is that it is frequently a "civil", not criminal, process where police and prosecutors are able to take property without even charging somebody with a crime, let alone convicting them. This is how police are, for example, able to snatch cash from cars they've pulled over and claim they suspect the money was going to be used for drug trafficking without actually finding any drugs.
Florida's new law will make this a bit harder. From Florida Politics:
State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, sponsored the measure, which was supported from both sides of the political spectrum….
"Florida is once again taking a leadership role in the defense of private property rights, and other states should look to our work and enact similar reforms to protect the rights of their residents," Brandes said.
Bill Piper, senior director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, also celebrated Friday's signing.
"The notion that police officers can take cash or other property from people never charged with any criminal wrongdoing and keeping any profits from the sale of seized property doesn't sit well with the public," he said. "Voters want action on civil asset forfeiture and it was smart politics for Gov. Scott to sign off on this."
That's good news for civil asset forfeiture reformers in the wake of the bad news earlier in the week that the Department of Justice has restarted its federal "equitable sharing" asset forfeiture program that allows law enforcement agencies to partner with the federal government and then keep a huge chunk of what they seize. Police departments often use this program to attempt to bypass restrictions their states put in place that either establish tougher rules for seizures or reduce how much money or property police are allowed to keep.
In Florida's case, the law is written so that a property seizure may only take place if the owner of the property is arrested for a crime for which said property would be described as "contraband." That appears to put in place restrictions that would avoid a federal bypass.
Read more about the law from the Institute of Justice here.
Good for him! But will this state law be binding on Federal LEO’s as well? Is there an exception for the Border Patrol and for Customs?
It would seem to me, that one should be CONVICTED first. But I guess I’m old-fashioned.
Charges?
There should have to be a conviction first for crying out loud.
State law is in no way binding upon Federal criminal charges in Federal District Court. This i true for Boder Patrol, Customs, and every Federal agency.
What it does mean, though, for the feds, is if they wish to file an asset forfeiture in a Florida state court, they will have to follow Florida law. But given this law, I don’t see that happening as often anymore.
LONG OVERDUE!
There should have to be a conviction first for crying out loud.
Indeed, the glass is only half full. Police and prosecutors groups hate these laws and push back everywhere they can.
Cannot believe this bill needed to be passed. Does anyone remotely care about the constitution anymore?
Drug War fever shredded much of the Constitution. It was all ok because they were just doing it to “those” people. The expansion into just about every other area of law enforcement led to an outcry...much too late. Americans seem to be unable to recognize a slippery slope.
It should be on conviction, not just filing charges.
Absolutely agree.
Exactly correct! You have it correct.
Well thank you Florida for leaving your criminal seizure ways. How about the rest of USG? Any plans to return to actual _law_ sometime soon?
‘Scope creep’....the SOP of all tyranny.
See: Income taxes, seat-belt laws, ‘gun control’, etc.
“Innocent until proven guilty”
What happened to that?
The fact that this is even NECESSARY is a huge indictment on America.
(PS: Stop supporting Cruz)
screw that!
Conviction on charges filed or nothing.
We are turning into a third world hole faster and faster.
No one listened.
“old-fashioned”
We need to start treating “old-fashioned” as a compliment.
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