Bill to limit property seizures by cops heads to Governor

Bill to limit property seizures by cops heads to Governor

By Lynda Carson — September 7, 2016

Oakland - As U.S. Troops guard the fields of poppies in Afghanistan for the drug kingpins involved in shipping heroin to the streets of Oakland and across the country, while the cops run amuck grabbing cash and property from the targeted traveling public, if signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, SB 443 would curb the cops from taking and keeping innocent people’s property.

Back in 1996 as the Port of Oakland welcomed Transportacion Maritima Mexicana (TMM) into town, a shipping line that allegedly was owned and operated by some Mexican drug kingpins, the Oakland cops ignored the activities of the shipping line while they were targeting local people for petty crimes.

Oakland even took this concept of seizing assets to a darker level of asset taking when the city decided to take the rental housing away from people for petty crimes, even when people were not convicted of anything, under the Nuisance Eviction Ordinance.

Seizing assets from the traveling public has become very controversial through the years. According to the ACLU, if passed into law, “SB 443, co-authored by Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember David Hadley (R-Torrance), would prohibit California law enforcement agencies from permanently taking and keeping someone’s money or property in a majority of cases where there is no criminal conviction.”

According to the ALCU under SB 443

• Federal Cases: State and local law enforcement may only receive a share of forfeited property if there is an underlying conviction, or if the forfeited property is $40,000 or more in cash. Cash under $40,000 will require a conviction, as will vehicles, boats, homes, and other types of personal property regardless of their value;



• State Cases: Cash under $40,000 may be forfeited if there is an underlying conviction, increasing the cash threshold from the current $25,000. Boats, vehicles, and homes will still require a conviction regardless of value.


SB 443 is co-sponsored by the ACLU of California, CHIRLA-Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the Drug Policy Alliance, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and the Institute for Justice.

The people of California are still waiting to hear if Governor Jerry Brown will sign SB 443 into law, meanwhile our U.S. Troops remain to guard the fields of poppies in Afghanistan for the drug kingpins involved in shipping heroin to the streets of Oakland, and across the country.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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