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[Enzom21]

Full article and video at link.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/

After the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the government called on police to become the eyes and ears of homeland security on America’s highways.

Local officers, county deputies and state troopers were encouraged to act more aggressively in searching for suspicious people, drugs and other contraband. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice spent millions on police training.

The effort succeeded, but it had an impact that has been largely hidden from public view: the spread of an aggressive brand of policing that has spurred the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from motorists and others not charged with crimes, a Washington Post investigation found. Thousands of people have been forced to fight legal battles that can last more than a year to get their money back.

Behind the rise in seizures is a little-known cottage industry of private police-training firms that teach the techniques of “highway interdiction” to departments across the country.

One of those firms created a private intelligence network known as Black Asphalt Electronic Networking & Notification System that enabled police nationwide to share detailed reports about American motorists — criminals and the innocent alike — including their Social Security numbers, addresses and identifying tattoos, as well as hunches about which drivers to stop.

Many of the reports have been funneled to federal agencies and fusion centers as part of the government’s burgeoning law enforcement intelligence systems — despite warnings from state and federal authorities that the information could violate privacy and constitutional protections.

A thriving subculture of road officers on the network now competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in the network’s chat rooms and sharing “trophy shots” of money and drugs. Some police advocate highway interdiction as a way of raising revenue for cash-strapped municipalities.

“All of our home towns are sitting on a tax-liberating gold mine,” Deputy Ron Hain of Kane County, Ill., wrote in a self-published book under a pseudonym. Hain is a marketing specialist for Desert Snow, a leading interdiction training firm based in Guthrie, Okla., whose founders also created Black Asphalt.

• There have been 61,998 cash seizures made on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants or indictments through the Equitable Sharing Program, totaling more than $2.5 billion. State and local authorities kept more than $1.7 billion of that while Justice, Homeland Security and other federal agencies received $800 million. Half of the seizures were below $8,800.
  
• Only a sixth of the seizures were legally challenged, in part because of the costs of legal action against the government. But in 41 percent of cases — 4,455 — where there was a challenge, the government agreed to return money. The appeals process took more than a year in 40 percent of those cases and often required owners of the cash to sign agreements not to sue police over the seizures.
  
• Hundreds of state and local departments and drug task forces appear to rely on seized cash, despite a federal ban on the money to pay salaries or otherwise support budgets. The Post found that 298 departments and 210 task forces have seized the equivalent of 20 percent or more of their annual budgets since 2008.
  
• Agencies with police known to be participating in the Black Asphalt intelligence network have seen a 32 percent jump in seizures beginning in 2005, three times the rate of other police departments. Desert Snow-trained officers reported more than $427 million in cash seizures during highway stops in just one five-year period, according to company officials. More than 25,000 police have belonged to Black Asphalt, company officials said.
  
• State law enforcement officials in Iowa and Kansas prohibited the use of the Black Asphalt network because of concerns that it might not be a legal law enforcement tool. A federal prosecutor in Nebraska warned that Black Asphalt reports could violate laws governing civil liberties, the handling of sensitive law enforcement information and the disclosure of pretrial information to defendants. But officials at Justice and Homeland Security continued to use it.

 

[Surface of Me]

Texas, you do not surprise me anymore.

 

[AMUSIX]

Hmmm...seems the more populous a state, the more money was taken....

 

[Smiles and Cries]

wow this sucks

 

[BigDug13]

Hmmm...seems the more populous a state, the more money was taken....

Yeah the map is worthless without a "per capita" value.

 

[hwalker84]

Government crooks bleeding the poor.

 

[entremet]

911 really did a number to this country.

 

[timetokill]

The appeals process took more than a year in 40 percent of those cases and often required owners of the cash to sign agreements not to sue police over the seizures.

It's the government versus the citizens

In case you still didn't know, the terrorists won.

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

911 really did a number to this country.

And herein lies the real truth.

It doesn't matter if 911 was done by lizard people or not, the fact remains that after this happened the government used it to control the people of the united states. Just like the war on drugs, they created another battle where the only winners are those in charge not the people it was sworn to protect.

 

[vikki]

I'm curious how they go about seizing money where no crime has been committed. Is it the equivalent of a robbery?

 

[YoungHav]

I'm not buying this at all. I had trouble paying for college one semester and my police officer uncle gave me $4000 towards tuition. Not all cops take money from people.

 

[SharkJAW]

I'm not buying this at all. I had trouble paying for college one semester and my police officer uncle gave me $4000 towards tuition. Not all cops take money from people.

Perfect.

 

[Brofist]

I'm not buying this at all. I had trouble paying for college one semester and my police officer uncle gave me $4000 towards tuition. Not all cops take money from people.

Nice one

 

[Lord of Castamere]

I'm not buying this at all. I had trouble paying for college one semester and my police officer uncle gave me $4000 towards tuition. Not all cops take money from people.

Agreed this is all just a bunch of tinfoil nonsense. Was the writer of this article even there?

 

[sono]

Describe just one realistic scenario where they take money from a motorist like this. My imagination isnt working.

 

[GraveRobberX]

Describe just one realistic scenario where they take money from a motorist like this. My imagination isnt working.

Dude on parole (assault) might have purchased a used car from someone
Say $3-5K, all cash, going to deliver money and get slip

Cops stops him for "reasons", runs his info into the database, sees that is a parolee

Asks to "Check" vehicle, sees the money, asks why someone has that much money
Realizes said parolee might have been a drug offender (even though it was assault), BAM now the money is taken away for "safety" reasons

Given the speech, "Well please bring your papers/slip of said purchase to the Precinct/Office, you can recover your money there"
Then 1 year wait through the court system...

 

[smurfx]

the TSA is also doing this. a gaming streamer called sp00ky had his laptop and all of his streaming equipment seized when he came back from doing an event in canada and it was never returned.

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Describe just one realistic scenario where they take money from a motorist like this. My imagination isnt working.

There's been a few articles posted on here in the past. I'll try and look for them.

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...-cash-now-part-federal-investigation/8054023/

http://dailysignal.com/2014/02/05/n...y-40k-return-1-million-seized-innocent-woman/

 

[Incognito]

Describe just one realistic scenario where they take money from a motorist like this. My imagination isnt working.

Here, read up.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken

This article is probably the impetus for the Post's investigation

 

[ZeroX03]

Didn't The Good Wife do an episode about this? Flimsy police stops basically just to earn money.

I Fought The Law.

 

[Bboy AJ]

If anyone thinks the US won or somehow received retribution for 9/11 when killing Bin Laden, they're wrong. There's no question as to whether the terrorists accomplished what they set out to do. TSA has been horrible, for instance, and we only recently learned about the NSA. Things are only getting worse.

 

[Cyber Caesar]

This creep gave a speech at my high school pep rally in 1997.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1998-10-17/news/9810170732_1_ergle-county-sheriff-sheriff-ken

Marion County Sheriff Ken Ergle, known nationwide for stripping his jail of luxuries such as cable TV and candy bars, was arrested Friday after more than $170,000 turned up missing from an investigative account for undercover operations.

The two-term sheriff was fingerprinted and booked into the jail he has made uncomfortable for inmates. He was charged with first-degree grand theft and official misconduct.




He resigned his office immediately, and Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed Maj. Steve Binegar as acting sheriff.

Looking haggard and keeping his eyes cast down, Ergle left the lockup about 5 p.m. after posting $15,000 bail. He wouldn't comment.

His lawyer whisked him away in a green van to his father's home to be with his family.

Ergle, 45, broke down when confronted Thursday by agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The sheriff cried, admitted that he took the money and said he feared he would go to prison. He said he regretted his multiple marriages, which caused him financial problems, and wished he had not been living so flamboyant a lifestyle.

Ergle's minister, the Rev. Edward Johnson, said: ``He seems very repentant, very sorry, very upset over the embarrassment he's caused his family, the community and the sheriff's department.''

Johnson, of the First Baptist Church of Ocala, said he counseled Ergle on Thursday and Friday before his arrest. He said the sheriff has been ``a great friend'' to him and ``very faithful'' in church attendance and support, but he said Ergle was not a ``religious man.''

 

[teruterubozu]

Texas has been doing this loooooong before 9/11.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I'm curious how they go about seizing money where no crime has been committed. Is it the equivalent of a robbery?

They take money and the prosecutor's office basically threatens to charge them with a crime if they petition the court to have it returned.

My brother gets paid in cash. When he was caught with weed during a traffic stop, they took his wallet (he had just gotten paid - $100).

They charged him with possession, but not intent to distribute, so they really had no right to take the money. However, my brother's attorney advised him not to petition the court to have his money returned, because the prosecution would probably respond by adding the intent to distribute charge on, thus ensuring a worse sentence and a criminal forfeiture of the money instead of a civil one.

 

[Bboy AJ]

The sheriff cried, admitted that he took the money and said he feared he would go to prison. He said he regretted his multiple marriages, which caused him financial problems, and wished he had not been living so flamboyant a lifestyle.

Ergle's minister, the Rev. Edward Johnson, said: ``He seems very repentant, very sorry, very upset over the embarrassment he's caused his family, the community and the sheriff's department.''

Oh ok no problem then.

 

[Trojita]

Describe just one realistic scenario where they take money from a motorist like this. My imagination isnt working.

Read the article. There is several.

 

[Frodo]

Isn't that the same this as... I don't know... stealing?

 

[GraveHorizon]

I don't know what's worse: knowing that the planet is probably fuc*ed because of humanity treating it like a trash can, or that almost everyone at the highest level of authority in society is completely corrupt. Probably the second one, because I won't be around long enough for the first to both me personally. I could get shot or robbed by a cop tomorrow!

 

[linsivvi]

I'm curious how they go about seizing money where no crime has been committed. Is it the equivalent of a robbery?

In most countries, these cops wouldn't be hired as cops. They would be gangsters.

but but but #notallcops

 

[vikki]

They take money and the prosecutor's office basically threatens to charge them with a crime if they petition the court to have it returned.

My brother gets paid in cash. When he was caught with weed during a traffic stop, they took his wallet (he had just gotten paid - $100).

They charged him with possession, but not intent to distribute, so they really had no right to take the money. However, my brother's attorney advised him not to petition the court to have his money returned, because the prosecution would probably respond by adding the intent to distribute charge on, thus ensuring a worse sentence and a criminal forfeiture of the money instead of a civil one.

I wonder why these municipalities are not charged with extortion? It seems they really are run like the mafia. Surrender your belonging or face prosecution? I'd like to get some of these instances on video to show how corrupt some of those police forces are. I remember the article on the woman, boyfriend, and children who we forced to forfeit the money or get her children taken away. That county said what they were doing was legal under their law, but I feel like that sort of behavior should be challenged in federal court, because it's really corrupt.

 

[kess]

Modern highwaymen.

 

[Neuromancer]

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

 

[PSGames]

Disgusting. If anything this should be given to charitable organizations. Not used to fund an unending cycle of police corruption.

 

[wildfire]

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

I was thinking the same thing but some people still carry money instead of having a bank account. Regardless all of these people haven't been convicted with a crime which is all we need to know about how sinister this practice is.

All of our home towns are sitting on a tax-liberating gold mine,” Deputy Ron Hain of Kane County, Ill., wrote in a self-published book under a pseudonym. Hain is a marketing specialist for Desert Snow, a leading interdiction training firm based in Guthrie, Okla., whose founders also created Black Asphalt.

This is such a disgustingly provincial thing to say. Sometimes I'm wondering why some people are cops but this is tiresome.

 

[Dead Man]

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

Doesn't matter. They key thing is that it is not a crime to do so.

 

[Enzom21]

Texas has been doing this loooooong before 9/11.

Asset Forfeiture laws have been around for a very long time. The government can seize all of your property without charging you with a crime.

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

In a lot of these cases, they shouldn't be taking the money at all.

 

[elrechazado]

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

Rule of law, how does it work?

 

[MasterOfPastures]

Ergle's minister, the Rev. Edward Johnson, said: ``He seems very repentant, very sorry, very upset over the embarrassment he's caused his family, the community and the sheriff's department.''

Sins can be forgiven. Crimes must be punished.

 

[Bboy AJ]

It's totally normal to be driving around with $8K or $9K in your car.

Innocent until proven guilty?

 

[adamsappel]

This creep gave a speech at my high school pep rally in 1997.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1998-10-17/news/9810170732_1_ergle-county-sheriff-sheriff-ken

Marion County Sheriff Ken Ergle, known nationwide for stripping his jail of luxuries such as cable TV and candy bars, was arrested Friday after more than $170,000 turned up missing from an investigative account for undercover operations.

The two-term sheriff was fingerprinted and booked into the jail he has made uncomfortable for inmates. He was charged with first-degree grand theft and official misconduct.

Two years house arrest, 18 years probation. Sigh.