Warning:
(image courtesy of Robb Allen)Crime pays for police
Russell and Patricia Caswell are a hard-working couple who may soon have their American Dream taken from them by the unholy alliance of local and federal law enforcement officials seeking to cash in on the Caswell’s property.
The Caswells face this dilemma even though they have broken no law and have spent their entire professional career working to combat crime with the very police force that now seeks to take their property though civil forfeiture. What is happening to Russ and Pat, however, is by no means an isolated instance and local law enforcement’s end-run around state laws designed to end the abuse of civil forfeiture should give anyone who owns Massachusetts property pause.Basically, because of the way our insane asset forfeiture laws work, the government can come in and sieze the property simply because too many drug-related offenses have occurred there. In nearly 20 years of operation, some 30 incidents have been reported - many of them coming from the owners of the motel itself. Had the Caswells refused to rent rooms to folks based on their perception of drug use, you know for a fact that they would be widely derided as racists and bigots. Rent to folks who use illegal drugs on the premises, though, and they'll take your business.
It's not a MA problem, though:
The government doesn’t claim that the Caswells are guilty of any crime. The government only says that federal civil forfeiture laws give them the power to take the property.
That's federal, not state. This could just as easily have happened in Texas, Montana, or other parts of free America as it happened in Massachusetts. There's a pretty strong incentive for the state to take part in this, too - 80% of the revenue from the seized property is given back to the state. The feds get 20%, the state gets 80%, and a law-abiding business owner takes it in the shorts. Sure, some states might tell the feds to pound sand, but the fact remains that these laws are on the books regardless of location. And with the economy in the current state of torpor (or stupor), a state that might *never* consider this might start to change their minds for the tax dollar$...
Welcome to America, land of opportunity - for the lawyer.
That is all.
7 comments:
I agree with you, but have you read the comments about the motel on the various travel sites and local newspaper. Even after those comments the feds have no right to do what they want and shame on the local law enforcement for getting the ball rolling!!!
Nope, not just a Mass. thing. Happens in Texas too, only with cars & cash instead of houses.
Well, SOMEONE has to Pay for the Guns to go to Mexico, so that the Drugs can be brought up here to be sold in Motel Rooms that will be Seized to buy the Guns that are shipped to Mexico....
Somehow, I don't think the guys at the Constitutional Convention had this in mind when they set up the Republic.
Jay, I told you about this one and what it would do to your BP in IRC the other day. Here it is again.
It still causes my blood to boil thinking about it.
Unlike some of you, I grew up in a rough part of town. Looking at the motel on Google maps, it's probably not a drug offense a year, but that's how often someone gets caught, just for possession.
Motels like these tend to be run by jerks or sleazy types that don't give a bleep about what happens on their property as long as the money is rolling in. You never see them step up enforcement, have off-duty officers there, etc - things other legitimate places have done when crime rolls in.
30 offenses in 20 years? Place deserves to go. They should get face value for it, but obviously they don't care about their community.
So Mark, have a jury trial for the law they violated and provide for due process.
Or do you think that just doesn't matter when you feel it's happening in some seedy neighborhood?
They should have a right to a jury trial, yes.
Civil liability for businesses is a funny thing in this lawsuit-happy nation. You can be sued as a business owner for something that was clearly someone else's fault.
But on the other hand, it's rare that anything happens to slumlords, etc.
They don't own an entire block of low-rent housing that will rent to anyone and only show up to collect the rent, but renting rooms by the hour with a 20 year history of drug issues tends to move them into that category.
Would you say that a rental home owner that rented the house out to someone they knew was a drug dealer after seeing people buying drugs from the guy should still turn a blind eye and hey, he pays the rent on time, so 'whatever'? Is there no civic duty?
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