Thursday, September 10, 2015

Police swarm Sacramento --they want to be able to steal our stuff!

Steven Greenhut wrote a column today about the extreme pressure the state and local police departments are putting on the state legislature to prevent passage of a law to put controls on police forfeiture.  See this link  --His title:  Forget Justice:  Cops just want money!

Police departments like the additional money they are able to take from people they think might be drug dealers.  They can use the money anyway they want.  They can pay overtime, give bonuses, or buy shiny new cool weapons and devices.  All of those expenditures, of course, are outside of the normal budget approval process.

Conceptually, it sounds really good!  If a criminal steals money or sells drugs the police should confiscate those proceeds.  Why should the criminal get rich and keep the fruits of his crime?  The trouble is that while the police say they need this "tool" to go after the big "organized crime drug lords" -- they actually most often use it against the "little guy" who doesn't have the money to defend themselves.  People with $10,000 in cash going to buy a car, can be accused of having the cash for illegal purposes and the cash can simply be taken by police!  The person then has to hire lawyers to get it back, and the cost in time and money may be more than the person can afford --and maybe more than the value of the money they are trying to get returned!  Greenhut cites a situation where the police tried to take a $1.5M piece of real estate because one tenant was accused of selling drugs!  Note, there is no determination that a person is guilty to confiscate the assets!  The police just take it and keep it!

We all need to call and write our State Representative and State Senator and tell them to vote FOR SB443!   The Federal Government also needs some sort of control on their similar practices.  

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Police Body Cameras Going the Wrong Way?


The San Diego Union Tribune had an editorial today (Sep 1 2015) that pointed out that the "police camera" revolution that had looked like it was going to help resolve the conflicts over police violence may be stopped in its tracks by new legislation.  See this link.  Steven Greenhut also addressed the subject in his column yesterday.  There has been a series of bills proposed in the California State Legislature (AB66, SB175, AB69) that attempted to put some controls on how the cameras are to be used and how/when data can be viewed or shared with the officers and public.  However the powerful police officers unions have apparently lobbied to stop or "water down" the proposed legislation.  Some have decried "thug cops" for stopping the legislation.
We need our police forces to be admired and respected, not feared and hated.  For years the police have confiscated cameras from bystanders who recorded what they were doing.  I've never heard of a police officer being indicted for doing that, even though it is a crime.  Police departments still confiscate videos of police arrests or police misconduct and then try to bury it.    I believe the state needs to establish some standards that treat the officers and citizens fairly and equally when reporting or documenting crimes.  If the police are permitted to view footage before writing their report, then accused citizens should have the same right before being interviewed by police.  If not, then neither should have access.  If the state does not establish standards, then maybe the Federal Government should draft some standards for use by Federal law enforcement agencies, and then it might become a "defacto" standard for states.  I think FBI, DEA, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, and TSA officers should also all have body cameras turned on during activities, and that citizens involved should also be treated fairly and uniformly when in comes to access to those videos.