PROPERTY CONFISCATION

[Jerry D Mead]

I've been predicting it for several years and now it's here. I predicted that when they could get away with confiscating personal property from drug users/dealers, they'd be doing the same thing DUIs. Justify a loss of freedom for one cause and the bad guys will soon expand it.

NYC has announced that anyone arrested for (note I did not say convicted) driving drunk will have their cars seized and not given back unless they are acquitted. (If it works as it does with drug seizures, they'll have to sue to get their property back.)

There are so many things wrong with this proposal I don't no where to start...like forget about "due process," the city will punish you in advance and it's up to you to prove your innocense to undue what they've done to you.

And who gets the money from the seized vehicles? If it's like the drug seizures it goes to the police and courts, giving the prosecutors a vested interest in convicting people.

Like a guy driving a $50,000 Mercedes is going to pay a much bigger price than someone driving a $600 jalopy.

Like, what about lease cars? Cars owned by the bank? Cars co-owned by spouses?

Hey! New York...your mayor is out of control!

The Curmudgeon