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From: downsizer-dispatch@downsizedc.org<BR>To: rebelljb@aol.com<BR>Sent:
2/18/2009 9:37:29 A.M. Central Standard Time<BR>Subj: Highway
Robbery<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT color=green><STRONG>D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t
c h</STRONG></FONT>
<HR>
<P><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Quote of the Day:</STRONG> "The idea that people
lose their property but are never charged and never get it back, that's theft
as far as I'm concerned." -- <A title=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html">Texas State
Senator John Whitmire</A> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Subject: Highway Robbery</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>If you happen to travel through east Texas, avoid Tenaha,
especially if you're African American. The Tenaha police may stop you and rob
you, without even charging you with a crime. <A title=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html">They even took
$4,000 from a great-grandmother.</A> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Tenaha, a town of 1,000, has used its robbery proceeds to
build a new police station, and buy a second police car to extend its legal
crime wave. But perhaps it's unfair to single out Tenaha. Police departments
all over America are doing the same thing, committing not only robbery, but
also acts of terrorism. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Apparently, <EM>no one</EM> is safe. Just ask Cheye Calvo,
the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland . . .</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>County police mistakenly targeted the Calvo home as a
marijuana drop-off point. <A title=http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2009/02/police-state-keynesianism-stimulating.html href="http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2009/02/police-state-keynesianism-stimulating.html">Police
invaded the home, bound the mayor's mother-in-law, and shot the family's dogs.
The Calvo's were cleared of all wrongdoing, but the police won't admit it made
any mistakes.</A> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><A title=http://www.reason.com/news/show/131131.html href="http://www.reason.com/news/show/131131.html">Radley Balko
reports</A> that the use of SWAT teams and no-knock raids has soared,
even when there's no evidence that a targeted home poses any threat. These
aggressive raids allow police to surprise the suspect and find as much
valuable property to seize as quickly as possible. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Law enforcement agencies then auction off this property
and spend the money on themselves, even when the victims they robbed are never
convicted of any crime. Instead, the victims must prove that they are NOT
guilty of a crime. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Proving a negative is almost impossible. That's why
innocence is presumed in free societies, and the state bears the burden of
proving guilt. Civil asset forfeiture turn this principle on its head. It even
forces victims to prove that their property was <EM>never</EM> used in a
crime.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>This means that most seized property is never returned,
even to people who are completely innocent. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>The asset forfeiture laws give police a huge incentive to
steal as much as possible. They also create a conflict-of-interest. Police
make more money seizing the proceeds of drug sales than by preventing drug
sales. This contradicts the supposed purpose of <A title=https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/109 href="https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/109">drug prohibition.</A>
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>But it gets worse . . .</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><A title=http://www.ncja.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=JAG_in_the_Economic_Stimulus_Bill href="http://www.ncja.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=JAG_in_the_Economic_Stimulus_Bill">The
newly-enacted "stimulus" bill includes $4 billion for state and local law
enforcement.</A> You will now be funding an expanded wave of police
robbery.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><A title=http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/99 href="http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/99">Please use our quick and
easy Educate the Powerful System to ask Congress to repeal civil asset
forfeiture.</A> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>You can cut and paste the examples provided above into
your personal comments. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Please also share this Dispatch with others and <A title=http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/highway-robbery href="http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/highway-robbery">Digg it on our
blog.</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Thank-you for being a part of the Downsize DC
Army.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>James Wilson<BR>Assistant to the
President<BR>DownsizeDC.org, Inc.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=green><STRONG>D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c
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