Philly Cops Skirting Forfeiture Restrictions By Seizing Cars As 'Evidence'
from the any-port-in-a-shitstorm dept
A couple of months ago, a consent decree drastically restructured Philadelphia’s severely-abused asset forfeiture program. It didn’t eliminate the program entirely, but it did eliminate the small-ball cash grabs favored by local law enforcement. The median seizure by Philly law enforcement is only $178, but it adds up to millions if you do it all the time. Small seizures like this now need to be tied to arrests or the property needs to be used as evidence in a criminal case.
Other restraints will hopefully eliminate local law enforcement’s worst practices — like seizing someone’s house because their kid sold $40 of drugs to a police informant. It also should slow down seizures of whatever’s in a person’s pockets by forbidding forfeitures of under $250 entirely.
The consent decree obviously won’t solve everything, and part of the problem is the consent decree itself. It forbids seizures of less than $1,000 unless the property is evidence in an ongoing case. Guess what local law enforcement is doing.
In November 2017, Iyo Bishop of Philadelphia was arrested on assault charges after a boyfriend, who she said was abusive, accused her of striking him with an SUV. City police picked her up after spotting the vehicle parked on the street weeks later. Bishop maintained her innocence but was cuffed and thrown in a squad car. She then watched in disbelief as an officer hopped in her 2002 Jeep Liberty and drove off.
Although the charges against Bishop were eventually dropped, she never saw her vehicle again. Police sold the Jeep at auction for $1,155 in storage fees they had assessed while the case made its way through the court system.
As this report by Ryan Briggs of The Appeal shows, the consent decree basically codifies this behavior. Cops seize vehicles when making arrests, ticking one of the requirement boxes. Then they claim the vehicle is evidence, ticking the other box.
Older vehicles worth less than $1,000 simply sit in impound lots racking up fees while the accused’s case languishes in the court system. The vehicle can’t be returned until the criminal case is processed, so it doesn’t take long for impound fees to outweigh the vehicle’s value. All of this is completely beyond the control of the person’s whose car has been seized.
Even if charges are dismissed or the accused is cleared of wrongdoing, the car’s owner still owes these fees. Every day they can’t pay it, the total increases. Sooner or later, the vehicle will be auctioned. Now the innocent person has no vehicle and is still ultimately liable for uncollected fees.
This allows cops to make money on seized vehicles even if the vehicle isn’t seized from someone suspected of criminal activity. It can happen to crime victims as well.
In 2014, Karin Foley and her husband, Willis, were moving from New York State to South Carolina when their vehicle blew a tire in Pennsylvania. When Willis Foley pulled the car over and got out to change the tire, a semi struck and killed him. Pennsylvania State Police later determined that the truck driver had been at the wheel for nearly 30 hours straight.
But the state troopers who responded to the accident impounded the Foleys’ diesel pickup and a horse trailer packed with their possessions as evidence. Like Bishop, Karin Foley never saw the truck, the trailer, or any of her belongings again.
The criminal case against the trucker dragged on for three years but never made it to trial. In May, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. State police called Foley a few months later to tell her that she had one week to travel to Pennsylvania—hundreds of miles from her South Carolina home—or they would auction her truck and trailer.
And auction it they did. The seized evidence was never used in court and local law enforcement immediately flipped the seized vehicle for unearned profit. To top it off, the coroner billed the widow $175 for her husband’s body bag.
While it’s understandable some property will be seized as evidence in criminal cases, fees shouldn’t be charged to those found innocent or to victims of criminal activity. This is just another form of forfeiture that provides almost no avenue of recourse to property owners other than paying the government to give them back their stuff.
Filed Under: asset forfeiture, civil asset forfeiture, consent decree, legalized theft, philadelphia
Comments on “Philly Cops Skirting Forfeiture Restrictions By Seizing Cars As 'Evidence'”
I really don’t know which is worse: The story, or the fact that none of the details are all that surprising.
with luck...
The new DA will decide a criminal prosecution of the cops here is worth the investment. See Timbs in the supreme court; this is an excessive fines thing.
Towing and vehicle storage fees are a cash cow for police and private tow operators alike, a form of legalized ransom with little if any regulatory oversight.
Franz Kafka could have written this article and “The Metamorphosis” would have paled in comparison.
Re: Re:
If Kafka were writing today, his style would be classified as "Slice of Life Americana" built on a framework of forfeituresque realism.
If the police need a car for evidence, fine. But they shouldn’t be able to charge the owner for storage if they are the ones claiming it needs to be stored for evidence.
In fact, they should be the ones paying the owner – they are taking private property for public use, and the plain language of the 5th Amendment says that the owner should get “just compensation”.
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Exactly what I came here to post. You can’t hold “evidence” and charge the owner for the privilege of keeping it from them, then sell it. This is literally nothing but theft under the color of authority.
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The asset seizure laws in the first place are egregious and wrong and turn our LEOs into bona fide crime cartels to relieve the public of their cash and valuables, and which they are more than happy to do because it benefits them and the department so much. They target people who have nice cars so they can “seize” it for themselves. This is a fact not conjecture. And they have lavish parties too with the money to celebrate. I thinks there’s a federal program that provides matching funds for local asset seizures in order to encourage more legalized thievery by the government thugs with guns.
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Do you have any references for those?
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Any time police or government agencies seize property and store it as ‘evidence’ the fees related to that storage should be entirely on them, and if the property in question is such that a person reasonably needs it, like a car, then it should be legally required that they provide a temporary replacement for the duration that they have it, again on their dime.
Complaining about cops is only going to make them use the spikier batons on your pretty boy asshole, Mikey. I warned you libel investgations are ongoing.
You’re fucked, pirate boy.
Re: So much projection
The only way you can get off without viagra is to imagine gay gang rape scenarios.
Fascinating
Re: Re: So much projection
Not my problem Mikey misses out on the pussy grabbing. Maybe he should have produced actual content lkie me, instead of stealing it and flogging it to his pirate choir. You don’t get influence in Hollywood by being a pirate, butMasnick can’t seem to graso that fact. Never mind. He will have plenty of time to grasp other things when he gets sent to prison for the grief he caused me.
The same goes for eaxh and every one of you scummy pirate fanboys.
Re: Re: Re: Your beard looks like prison pussy
Poor baby can’t get it up so he takes it out on everyone else.
Bring it on old man.
Re: Re:
I love reading random posts and realizing it is not relevant to the article and flagging it. It shows how much you are obsessed with this site. If I were Mike, I would get a restraining order against you and seize you arrested when you inevitably violate it. Having you in jail should increase the happiness level by everyone, including anyone who might be related to you.
Re: complaining bout the cops
John Smith knows what he likes 😀 likey the spikey apparently
too bad you don’t know what libel means
caio…
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MyNameHere just hates it when due process is enforced.
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“libel investigations(spelling corrected) are ongoing”
Mr. Clarke. So good to see you again.
Still an impotent little poodle I see.
Some things never change.
How’s Brandy? Kid must be 4 or 5 by now.
Maybe I will order some TechDirt goodies and have them sent to your house for xmas. You can give it to wiLLie Sr. so he will get something from you this year.
Sound good Wilburt?
Forget the legality, what saddens me is the lack of humanity.
When I was in high school a lot of classmates had jobs at Kmart and would joke that it paid 4 bucks an hour and all you could steel.
I guess the next step up from Kmart is law enforcement…
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Remember: Dumb criminals go to jail. Smart criminals go into law enforcement and/or politics.
That takes skill. Not the kind you want, but still
But the state troopers who responded to the accident impounded the Foleys’ diesel pickup and a horse trailer packed with their possessions as evidence. Like Bishop, Karin Foley never saw the truck, the trailer, or any of her belongings again.
The criminal case against the trucker dragged on for three years but never made it to trial. In May, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. State police called Foley a few months later to tell her that she had one week to travel to Pennsylvania—hundreds of miles from her South Carolina home—or they would auction her truck and trailer.
And auction it they did. The seized evidence was never used in court and local law enforcement immediately flipped the seized vehicle for unearned profit. To top it off, the coroner billed the widow $175 for her husband’s body bag.
I must say, it takes some real dedication and practice to be that reprehensible of an asshole, that vile and disgusting an example of a human being. To look at someone who just had their husband killed right in front of them and have your first and apparently only though being, ‘Yeah, this looks like an excellent time to make a quick buck.’
And yet, as Steven noted in their comment, the only thing more disgusting than what the police and coroner did here is the fact that not one bit of it is surprising. At this point I can’t find it in me to be surprised by any of their actions, even if I am utterly disgusted by the corrupt, abhorrent wastes of air that did those actions.
Re: That takes skill. Not the kind you want, but still
Since this article mentions someone from another state, perhaps we should sue the PA to get them to stop violating the rights of citizens.
Re: That takes skill. Not the kind you want, but still
Know your ABCs – Always Be Confiscating
And they wonder why people call them pigs
USA, who needs criminals when you have cops.
Brazil?
In the movie Brazil, it opens with the Minister discussing how they charge “information storage” fees and “information retrieval” fees – essentially make political prisoners pay for their storage (incarceration) and interrogation. This was supposed to be a parody of how insidious a state could get in oppressing its citizens.
Not so funny now…
Addicted to seizures
The one thing in common in all of these stories is the behaviour of the cops.
They all exhibit the classic signs of being addicts. Instead of drugs or alcohol, they are addicted to seizures and forfeitures. They have become addicted to stealing from the public, plain and simple and no one can seem to rein them in.
Maybe it is time for some enterprising lawyers to start filing lawsuits. Not aimed at the cops themselves, but at their enablers. Don’t sue the cops, sue the cities and counties they work for. There are so many constitutionally suspect practices involved, they should be able to bankrupt many local governments and force wholesale changes in policies and practices.
Of course, this assumes their buddies in the courts don’t invent new ways to let them off the hook.
Re: Addicted to seizures
Of course their buddies in court will protect them — That’s one of the main reasons for the court system to exist: they all protect each other. And please don’t think the court system is somehow less corrupt than cops. The judges and courts are so much more powerful and therefore much more corrupt than the mobsters that make up the PD. The pigs are just their despicable thugs with guns they can send where needed to do their dirty business as thieves, professional assassins, issuer of infractions designed for maximum profit, and legalized kidnapping and extortion. I believe we actually have no idea of the depth of the corruption, malfeasance, breach of public trust, and depravity that is actually occurring in this evil network that was designed to keep us in line.
Occasionally they throw one of theirs (usually a female cop or one of color) to the wolves as a sacrifice to make it look like they’re “policing” themselves. This way they can weed out any honest cops, female cops, etc, whomever they don’t like.
THIS IS WHOM I FEAR: the government and their armed goons, the IRS, and any other government agency such as CPS etc. The IRS too can confiscate your entire bank balance if they don’t like the way your cash is deposited. This form of asset seizure is especially egregious because many many small business owners have lost hundreds of thousands for this reason and you better believe they will never recover it even if found “innocent.” I really don’t fear too much other civilians robbing or harming me, but of these disgusting miscreants who will stop at nothing it seems and simply don’t care if they destroy lives. The aristocracy of the USA (anyone who benefits from tax increases so pretty much anyone who works for the gov) is out of control and bent on enriching themselves off the backs of civilians. They are literally our lords and masters and there is nothing we can do, they have too much power and it will only get worse.
How do you expect those brave men and women to serve and profit if you take this away from them!?
Forfeiture
Civil forfeiture without a conviction on a related crime is government larceny. The officials involved should be prosecuted for larceny – and if convicted should be barred from serving in governmental positions for life.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association
Re: Forfeiture
Exactly.
Here are my views (copied from a reply above). Thanks for reading.
Of course their buddies in court will protect them — That’s one of the main reasons for the court system to exist: they all protect each other. And please don’t think the court system is somehow less corrupt than cops. The judges and courts are so much more powerful and therefore much more corrupt than the mobsters that make up the PD. The pigs are just their despicable thugs with guns they can send where needed to do their dirty business as thieves, professional assassins, issuer of infractions designed for maximum profit, and legalized kidnapping and extortion. I believe we actually have no idea of the depth of the corruption, malfeasance, breach of public trust, and depravity that is actually occurring in this evil network that was designed to keep us in line.
Occasionally they throw one of theirs (usually a female cop or one of color) to the wolves as a sacrifice to make it look like they’re “policing” themselves. This way they can weed out any honest cops, female cops, etc, whomever they don’t like.
THIS IS WHOM I FEAR: the government and their armed goons, the IRS, and any other government agency such as CPS etc. The IRS too can confiscate your entire bank balance if they don’t like the way your cash is deposited. This form of asset seizure is especially egregious because many many small business owners have lost hundreds of thousands for this reason and you better believe they will never recover it even if found “innocent.” I really don’t fear too much other civilians robbing or harming me, but of these disgusting miscreants who will stop at nothing it seems and simply don’t care if they destroy lives. The aristocracy of the USA (anyone who benefits from tax increases so pretty much anyone who works for the gov) is out of control and bent on enriching themselves off the backs of civilians. They are literally our lords and masters and there is nothing we can do, they have too much power and it will only get worse.
Hello this is Iyo Bishop and I would much appreciate if you all will stop writing misinform information about me. I never gave Ryan Briggs permission to write about me in the first place
An you know this Ryan. .Ryann Briggs please Shun King delete all the articles that you have of me that I never gave either of you permission to write. if I had an abusive ex don’t you think every time he sees my name and an article he would like to try to abuse me or get back at me more did any of you take that into consideration can I maintain my privacy . The car is unrelated Philly Community bail fund whom I fully support . This is for anyone who reuse their false article about me. Please stop. All because of you Ryan . You called me. I didn’t answer. That means a person don’t want to talk to you. It does not mean for you to take the little third party miss information you got from Mly and degrade me in your sarcastic article.
Re: Re:
He doesn’t need permission, due to the first amendment.
Ryan Briggs doesn’t write for TechDirt. You’ve commented on a blog that wrote about the story that he wrote for The Appeal.