There is an old quote where a bank robber was asked why he robs banks. He replied, “Because that is where the money is.” It seems that the police have decided to take his advice and begin robbing the modern day version of the stagecoach. The Feds are helping them.
Sheriffs in California and Kansas have exploited the fact that marijuana distribution, while legal in those states, is illegal under Federal Law. Because of this fact, they are having deputies conduct traffic stops on the armored cars and confiscating all of the money. In the case of Kansas, no law is being broken in Kansas. The cops are merely stopping the armored cars that are transporting the cash from Missouri pot shops to Colorado banks.
As soon as the money is seized, the cops turn the money over to the Feds, which places it out of the jurisdiction of state judges, who are then unable to intervene. Under Federal forfeiture laws, the local cops get 80% of whatever the Federal government confiscates. Getting $800,000 for a traffic stop is a pretty lucrative business move.
This is purely an attempt to use badges to conduct armed robbery. The cops want people not to oppose them, but that is pretty hard to do when you are acting more like a criminal gang than you are a legitimate law enforcement agency.
18 Comments
Bert · February 17, 2022 at 6:37 am
I don’t get you DM. You put up a couple posts (LTL weapon) saying you need to follow the LAW because the LAW says ……….
Well, the fucking LAW says the dope is illegal
as are the proceeds from sale.
You published saying you bow knees on carrying firearms for protection(where the LAW says you can’t), yet this article says you believe officers enforcing the law are criminals(the entire last paragraph)?????
Are you a blind rule follower or not
Seems the messages be mixed
Unrelated side note, just cause it popped in to visit. After the first ambush (hey, lets just start calling these activities what they really are for starters ok.) those who lived through it and were fucking stupid enough to drive into ANOTHER one, honestly they gets what’s they deserve.
D · February 17, 2022 at 8:50 am
I think you misunderstand the difference between what is Constitutional, what is moral, and what is statute/code.
Bert · February 17, 2022 at 6:01 pm
That indeed would be a fascinating conversation to have, many weeks of discussion. Just won’t be round here.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 8:18 pm
This blog isn’t an airport- you don’t have to announce your departure.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 11:25 am
Bert- Personal attacks are not allowed. This is your one and only warning. You can debate ideas, and I am pretty tolerant there. Just leave out the personal attacks.
Bert · February 17, 2022 at 6:02 pm
All I did was hold up a mirror.
Very telling your reaction.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 8:15 pm
Yeah, you got me. We are all impressed.
Elrod · February 17, 2022 at 7:34 am
Not going to weigh in on whether legal marijuana sales should be conducted, but…the illegal mj sales people don’t use banks, or at least not until their cash has been sufficiently well laundered as to render it mostly unrecoverable (I say “mostly” because a strong enough effort at forensic accounting can reveal the paths and sources, especially if the $$ come to rest long enough in one place, and there’s always some law that can be applied to seize it).
Therefore · February 17, 2022 at 7:34 am
There are good laws and there are bad laws. Civil forfeiture is a bad law. Many states made it illegal.
The law was intended to make it difficult for bad guys to defend themselves in court. Dude is suspected of being drug dealer. Cops roll up and arrest and charge him with being a dealer. The cops then charge the dudes houses, cars, bank accounts, cash on hand, and all other investments with being the proceeds of illegal activity.
They take all the stuff.
Dude now calls his lawyer and says “help”. Lawyer says sure, $1,000,000 down payment. Dude says “they took all my money” lawyer says “good luck with public defender”
Say dude is found not guilty, he doesn’t get his stuff or money back. While his good have been charged they haven’t been taken to court. And when his goods are taken to court he will have to pay to have a lawyer defend his house.
In the mean time the cops get to use or sell his stuff. If they turn it over to the feds the whole thing starts over again.
There are cases of people spending years to get their stuff back only to find that just before the court ruled the cops sent the stuff to the feds.
We fight bad laws. DM is consistent. He might not want pot to be legal, but there are states that have made it legal. For the local cops to use a bad law to steal the proceeds of those businesses is wrong.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 11:31 am
For the record: I don’t care if pot is legal or not. The only problem I have with pot is that I am forced to smell it/breathe it in when they light up. I have the same problem with tobacco.
The bigger problem I have is with the cops ignoring the Constitution. Kindly look over the following two Amendments and explain to me how asset forfeiture is legal.
Amendment 4
– Protection from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 5
– Protection of Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
Anonymous · February 17, 2022 at 8:20 am
Ummm. Gotta disagree with you on a technicality. MJ is NOT legal in KS. Maybe with a scrip, they were pushing it a couple years ago, pretty sure we said ‘no’, though.
Yeah, I get civil forfeiture is not a great thing and should be changed, and I’ll generate some hate for it, but KS is getting some money, without legalizing drugs and inviting those issues along into the state.
Also, pressure is being applied to the banking system/regulations to allow all this surplus cash to be legally deposited-soooo there is that.
And that poor truck that got caught in KC? It’s Kansas City, and not even the good side of KC. Crime is Stoopid high there.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 11:34 am
My mistake. Kansas City, Missouri. Not the other side. I will correct it.
Anonymous · February 17, 2022 at 11:52 pm
Apologies. I misread the article also. This one gives a bit more background: https://www.kansas.com/news/state/article258115248.html
The vehicle was stopped outside of Abilene, that little town that Ike was proud to call home.
And KS has creatively aquired a lot more than the other article mentioned.
Toastrider · February 17, 2022 at 8:26 am
If you defend or support civil forfeiture, you are a thief and support thievery.
Full stop.
Anonymous · February 17, 2022 at 9:55 am
If you know what the laws are, and choose to willfully and/or stupidly break them, you’d better have counted the cost.
So, yeah. I don’t support civil forfeiture. People with inconvenient political beliefs as well as your run of the mill poor person with bad credit and unbankability can be unfairly targeted by these laws.
That being said, I got no pity or sympathy for 1)companies that supply the drug trade, legal or otherwise and B)armoured services who’ve become so complacent, they can’t distinguish the proper care and regs regarding their customers’ stash o cash, ending up in this predicament, not just once, but twice.
Divemedic · February 17, 2022 at 11:36 am
Remember that when the Feds began doing the same thing to people who make and sell gun parts, including 80 percent guns.
Toastrider · February 17, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Or just anyone at all, period. They don’t even need justification.
Anonymous is a moron.
Anonymous · February 17, 2022 at 7:02 pm
Anonymous is always a moron. That’s why he’s anonymous.
Comments are closed.