Sign the Petition: http://forcechange.com/21765/stop-wisconsin-police-from-stealing-bail-money/
Target: The Brown County Drug Task-force
Goal: To stop the Brown County Police
Department from robbing people who are trying to provide bail money.
Brown County, located
in eastern Wisconsin, is currently experiencing a serious problem with its
police department’s handling of bail money. In numerous cases where citizens
are arrested in Brown County, particularly when the arrests are for drug
offenses, the police have been seizing the bail money using their asset
forfeiture policy.
“Asset forfeiture”
laws allow for the seizure of property obtained through money gained in an
illegal manner; once seized, this property is liquidated and a portion of the
profits are given to the police department. The tactic of asset forfeiture is
intended to punish drug dealers and to assist in funding the police departments
which arrest drug dealers.
Many civil rights
groups have claimed that asset forfeiture laws give the police a financial
incentive to arrest more non-violent offenders and that these laws
disproportionately affect the poor. Asset forfeiture disproportionately harms
the poor because, as no lawyer is provided by the state to fight asset
forfeitures, many poor people are simply unable to fight back, regardless of
their guilt.
The Brown County
Police Department has taken the concept of asset forfeiture to an entirely new
level: When friends and family members of those arrested call in to the police
to arrange bail, they are told (incorrectly, as a check is acceptable) that
they must bring cash to the police station. Once the bail money is delivered to
the police, they use drug sniffer dogs do determine whether the money has drug
residue on it and, if it does, they seize the cash for themselves. Even in
cases where the bail money has a paper trail directly from a bank, thus is
obviously not from a drug deal, the money has still been seized under asset
forfeiture.
Various studies, run
by the federal government, have shown that between 75% and 90% of all currency
currently circulating in the United States has enough drug residue to trigger a
positive drug test. As drug residue is so commonly found on bills, this
disqualifies it as proof of any wrongdoing in court and makes the seizure of
money by the police wholly inappropriate; if the police officers were to empty
their pockets, statistics would indicate that a majority of their money would
be covered with drug residue as well.
A combination of the
request for bail to be in cash and the systemic testing of said cash, even
though the result is inevitably positive, proves intent on the part of the
police to seize bail money.
Given the
preponderance of the evidence against such use of seizure laws, the actions of
the Brown County police department are little better than legitimized theft.
Our police departments should protect our citizens from being victimized by
those who wish to take our property, not join in on the victimization of
citizens using the authority of their badges. Please sign this petition to
protest the specious use of asset forfeiture laws to rob American citizens when
they are simply trying to provide bail money to their loved ones.
PETITION LETTER
Dear Brown County Drug
Task-force,
It has recently come
to the attention of the public that your department is utilizing asset
forfeiture laws to seize bail money, even in cases where this money obviously
is not obtained from drug sales. While asset forfeiture laws are on the books
in Wisconsin, this is never how they were intended to operate and utilizing
them like this is little better than theft.
A vast majority of
money in circulation has drug residue on it, including the dollar bills in your
own pockets, thus the use of such residue to justify asset seizure is wholly
unfair.
Please, remember why
you became police officers – to protect and serve – and stop this victimization
of the families of those who you arrest. Even if those who you arrest are
guilty of a crime, it does not justify your department defrauding those who
come in to post bail.
I, as well as
everybody else who has signed this petition, implore you to immediately stop
the policy of testing and seizing bail money from those who post bail within
your jurisdiction.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
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