State Senator Vows To Reform Hawaii Asset Forfeiture Laws

CB: State Sen. Will Espero says the current system is unfair because it opens citizens up to having their property taken even if they aren’t convicted of a crime….

http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/11/state-senator-vows-to-reform-hawaii-asset-forfeiture-laws/


Under civil forfeiture laws, police and prosecutors can seize cash, cars, homes and other property on the mere suspicion that it is connected to criminal activity. No charges or convictions are required. And once property is seized, owners must navigate a confusing, complex and often expensive legal process to try to win it back before it is forfeited. Worst of all, most civil forfeiture laws give law enforcement agencies a powerful incentive to take property: a cut, or even all, of forfeiture proceeds. Such financial incentives, combined with weak protections for property owners, increasingly put people’s property at risk.

Civil forfeiture is easier for law enforcement because it does not require a conviction, while criminal forfeiture does.
This gives law enforcement a strong financial incentive to take property regardless of the owner’s guilt or innocence. Hawaii State law has a low standard of proof, requiring only to show by a preponderance of the evidence that property may be criminal.


for example
If you had a several hundred dollars in your wallet, all that an LEO is required to "say" is that it MAY be used to buy drugs. It is all that is required to seize the money without charging  you for a crime.

They made "search take" law now?
I remember when I went to Dole Intermediate and I had to cross the district park field to get home. Often a line of bigger students (i.e. kids from Kam IV) would "search take" our possessions. Had my friend's gold necklace snatched from his neck. I hid my money in my socks. Some of these "search takers" knew me - they said "Eh, das da kine, let him go" I was the token sympathetic Asian, Short round kid.

They made "search take" law now?
I remember when I went to Dole Intermediate and I had to cross the district park field to get home. Often a line of bigger students (i.e. kids from Kam IV) would "search take" our possessions. Had my friend's gold necklace snatched from his neck. I hid my money in my socks. Some of these "search takers" knew me - they said "Eh, das da kine, let him go" I was the token sympathetic Asian, Short round kid.

Hahaha, I remember "Search Take"

something awhile back about HPD's  MILLION$ of dollar$ in their "seizure" kitty that they were saving for a rainy day