agingrebel.com
It is probably fair to say that most
readers here enjoy President Trump’s candor and iconoclasm so much that
they don’t care that his brain is made of hair. Maybe it is time to
start caring.
The subject of asset forfeiture came up
yesterday during a love in with about half the National Sheriffs
Association. The subject dominated the conversation recorded in the
video below for about six minutes starting at the 21-minute mark. Civil
asset forfeiture provides a mechanism that encourages local, federal and
state police to steal private property without finding the property’s
rightful owner guilty of any crime. Usually all that is needed is an
accusation. The practice is a national scandal and obviously the
President is just now hearing about it for the first time.
At the end of the asset forfeiture
discussion – at about the 27-minute mark – Harold Eavenson, who is the
Sheriff of Rockwell County, Texas and who likes to dress up like an
admiral, complained about a bill in the Texas Senate (SB380) cosponsored
by Konni Burton (photo above) of Forth Worth and Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
of McAllen. Burton is a Republican and Hinojosa is a Democrat. Burton
wrote the bill.
Reform
The new law would require a criminal
conviction before prosecutors could proceed with asset forfeiture. Civil
forfeiture would only be allowed if the property owner is unavailable
or does not claim the property. SB380 would prohibit state and local law
enforcement from receiving proceeds from forfeited property. All funds
would go to the county treasurer. Currently in Texas, up to 70 percent
of asset forfeiture proceeds go directly into law enforcement agency
budgets. Critics refer to the practice as “policing for profit.”
Burton’s bill would also end the
practice of transferring seized property to the federal government.
Typically, in states with strict asset forfeiture laws, local police
turn the assets over to federal officials who then return those assets
to local police as a grant. California, for example, has strict
state-level restrictions on asset forfeiture, but local police
departments get around those laws by participating in a federal asset
forfeiture program called “equitable sharing.” Federal officials then
legally return 80 percent of the value of the seized assets to local
departments and keep 20 percent for themselves.
Believe It
Sheriff Eavenson doesn’t like
politicians touching the money his cops steal so he complained to Trump,
“We’ve got a state senator in Texas who was talking about introducing
legislation to require conviction before we could receive that
forfeiture money.”
Trump, appalled, replied, “Can you believe that?”
“I told him the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico” Eavenson quipped back.
“Who is the State Senator?” Trump wanted to know. “Do I get his name? We’ll destroy his career.”
And then all the policemen and Trump laughed.
Today, Burton told the Dallas Morning News,
“Property rights are one of the foundational rights in any free society
and the taking of property by government is no small matter…. I will
not be discouraged or deterred. The moment for reform of our system of
asset forfeiture has arrived.”
“I have never met with Sheriff Eavenson,” Burton added, “nor even heard of him before yesterday.”