In Tennessee, forfeiture proceedings are conducted ex parte, which means that the judge only heard the thief's side of the story. Reby didn't learn about the hearing until well after the fact — and if he hadn't gone to the media, it's likely he would have lost his money permanently. He had to travel back to Tennessee in order to get a check that was reluctantly written by a police department that refused to apologize for robbing him at gunpoint. Spectacles of this kind are common on Interstate 40 in Tennessee, where officers from two drug task forces prowl the highway in search of cash they can seize through civil asset forfeiture. Kim Helper, District Attorney for Tennessee's 21st Judicial District, insists that the highway robbery scheme is "a way for us to continue to fund our operations so that we can put an end to drug trafficking and the drug trade within this district." Of course, those two objectives — "continued funding" and "an end to drug trafficking" — are mutually incompatible.By the way, this guy was from the Monterrey Police Department, trolling on I-40 in case you're coming through that way. Want some irony? Larry Bates was awarded Officer of the Year. Maybe he was bringin' home the bacon:
Oh and did I mention that cops are paid out of the loot?
As Nashville's CBS affiliate reported last year, the salaries paid to the officers involved in this highway robbery ring are paid directly out of the cash and other assets seized by them; this means that police often find themselves competing to stop and shake down the same cars, sometimes nearly coming to blows in the process.You see if you have cash at all, it could have been obtained from selling drugs. That makes you suspicious. Never-mind that Wachovia was caught red-handed laundering drug money through Miami and got a slap on the wrist. If you wanted to stop narcotics trafficking, you'd attempt to stop it at the source by following the money back. There is billions and billions in drug money coming across the border. That's a lot of briefcases {eyeroll}. It's being deposited into the Fed Cartel banks like Wachovia and probably propping them up more than any of us realize. When Gary Webb broke the story that the CIA was responsible for introducing crack to America, he swiftly became depressed and committed suicide by shooting himself twice.
According to the Russian Navosti:
Drug money has become a necessary part of the international monetary system and one of the sources of the financial crisis. The world's largest banks depend on "dirty" but liquid money from drug sales and indirectly encourage the further production of drugs.Anyone remember when California was going to legalize pot and that Russian big wig came over and said, that's a really, really bad idea. This is because the governments/central banks of the worlds are dependent on drug money and its liquidity to keep themselves propped up.
For your viewing pleasure, check out the Mena Connection- Clinton, CIA, and drugs all rolled up together.
But the point of this post is to beware how we have a separate standards for people wearing a uniform that leads to predatory behavior. We also are seeing a war on cash. Possession of cash = possession of narcotics.
The drug war has been a long running excuse for all sorts of tyrannical and illegal behavior by the people who are supposed to be enforcing the law. The real law, not made up, illegal statutes like the one that allows these takings. I know no state is wonderful on these things, but Tennessee seems to be one of the very worst. You could not pay me enough to live there.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that bad. I can tell you that homeschooling here seems to be more hassle-free than in NC. Under the umbrella school, no body gets into your business. If you register with the school district (which almost nobody does), you just have to take the TCAP in 4th and 7th grades?
DeleteTruth be told, our car broke down on the exit into Monterrey. I grabbed the kids and my husband called the tow truck from the nearest Burger King. We had to walk about a mile and half down the road to the shop (had three kids at the time), and it was raining. A nice lady picked us up (I can say I've hitchhiked with kids) and dropped us off. Everyone was super nice there.
Committed suicide by shooting himself twice... Now that is what I call commitment!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it would be interesting to do a study of all the journalists in America that have "dispatched" to eternity.
DeleteWorse yet, it's supposed to be a "war on drugs" to keep the drugs off the streets, but there are reports that some police agencies are doing little to catch the drugs as the come through to be sold on the streets because if they catch them before they're sold, they're supposed to destroy the cargo and they might make a little for confiscating the vehicle. So they're more aggressively patrolling the "return" routes to catch the cash going back, because it's much more profitable.
ReplyDeleteExactly. In fact, the linked story says they're doing just that. It's westbound I-40 they're hitting up, not the supposed drugs in the east lane.
DeleteAlso, it makes you wonder what the city police are doing trolling the interstate, seems like that is Highway Patrol or County Sheriff's jurisdiction. But if there's something on the books that lets you loot cash, well I reckon they'll be taking some of that action.
Ah, sorry, I didn't read the link. I've read so many of these over the years that it makes me feel physically sick when I see more.
DeleteIt also makes you wonder if "they" are purposely letting these drugs through to be sold so they can chase the cash, then what about the growing use of swat raids to invade the homes of low level dealers and users? The payouts on the swat raids are extremely small for the cops putting themselves and the general public in dangerous situations with armed home invasions, plus there's increased risk of bad publicity when the raids go seriously wrong w/ innocents involved. It makes absolutely no sense. Is it one arm of the law not coordinating efforts with the other, or is it by design?
And you're absolutely correct about the goal of making us a cashless society as you commented below. It's one of the very few areas where the government is actually good at "creating" jobs, by incentivizing the growth of the money laundering industry.
Design. The police state that has been built started with the "drugs" pretext. John Stockwell talked about the drug trade and Vietnam - been going on a long time.
DeleteAfter watching the video from another source, this infuriated me. Officer Larry Bates is a theft with a badge. Having cash is not a crime but this $22,000 would have been leveraged at least ten times if it was in a bank. Often customers in my business pay me in cash, which I don't have to worry about bouncing, does that make them and me a criminal? This guy from NJ made two mistakes: he should not have told him that he had the cash and should not have let him search his car without a warrant. This is one law that all of us in TN should be talking to our reps about to repeal.
ReplyDeleteThey're trying to make us go the way of Sweden - cashless society. Somewhere at the top, the agenda was made up to make using cash look suspicious. These low-IQ wonders would never connect the dots - all they know is that cash can be theirs with the right bullhockey authority man talk.
DeleteThe fellow from NJ learned that being open and honest gets you absolutely nothing from a thief in uniform.
I forwarded this article to my state rep and senator stating that this needed to be repealed. The rep responded that he and several other reps were working on it for the next legislature. Be interesting to see how the sheriff and police associations respond if this is done. We must keep the pressure on our reps that this is not acceptable and is in and of itself lawlessness.
ReplyDeleteMost of our local people are so caught up in the day-to-day dramas of votes and such that they don't see the bigger picture. They're not evil, just ignorant.
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