Pubdate: Tue, 29 Dec 2015 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 WELCOME RESPITE IN ASSET SEIZURES A budgetary squeeze has apparently accomplished what civil liberties proponents have been unable to do: curb arrangements under which local police team with federal agencies in seizing the property of people who will never be convicted of any crime. And while the change in policy may not be a permanent respite from these abuses of due process and the presumption of innocence, it's at least a start. Earlier this year state Sen. Laura Woods, R-Arvada, offered a bill to tighten rules on these so-called equitable-sharing arrangements, which have become the most lucrative examples of "policing for profit," as the Washington-based Institute for Justice calls them. Colorado's rules for seizing property of people who are neither charged nor convicted were tightened considerably (if not sufficiently) in 2002. However, a loophole allows local agencies to partner with federal agencies under much less rigorous rules. And this is the case around the nation. Never underestimate the law enforcement lobby, which had little trouble killing Woods' bill. Now, it seems, a budgetary squeeze at the Department of Justhe tice (DOJ) may achieve a similar shift in the frequency of civil asset forfeiture. For whatever reason, the DOJ's Asset Forfeiture Program is not a high priority of the current Congress, which trimmed funding by $458 million in the recent appropriations act signed by the president. This was on top of a major reduction a month before. The upshot is that the DOJ announced last week it is suspending equitable-sharing payments to local law enforcement agencies until further notice. Good. As the Institute for Justice documented in a report last month, the DOJ's Asset Forfeiture Fund has grown almost exponentially over the past 30 years, and payments to state and local law enforcement under equitable sharing more than tripled between 2000 and 2013. "Using civil forfeiture, the government can take your home, business, cash, car or other property on the mere suspicion that it is somehow connected to criminal activity - and without ever convicting or even charging you with a crime," the Institute for Justice report explained. The standard under our Constitution should be much, much higher. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom