Indiana politicians are attacking your private property rights!
Did you know under Indiana law, the government can seize your private property without even charging you with a crime?!
S.B. 299 was introduced in the State Senate and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Civil Law.
This bill will help put a stop to draconian civil asset forfeiture practices by requiring law enforcement to have an arrest and conviction BEFORE you would have to forfeit your property, and it keeps officials from using an existing loophole that allows them to keep the spoils as a funding source for their departments.
Article 8, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution requires that all forfeiture proceeds go to the state school fund.
However, some officials have taken full advantage of a state statute permitting law enforcement agencies to first deduct related “investigative” costs.
In Marion County — the largest county in the state — officials have used the provision to keep all of the proceeds of forfeiture by dividing forfeited property among a range of law enforcement agencies, rather than according to a case-specific cost determination.
This horrible practice must stop!
Call Senator Rodric Bray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Law, at 317-232-9400 TODAY and ask him to put S.B. 299 on the calendar for a vote!
Civil forfeiture has become big business in Indiana, and it allows the government to seize your cash, cars, and even your house, based on the mere suspicion of a crime.
If you don’t have $10,000 or so to hire an attorney who specializes in civil forfeiture cases, you’re unlikely to ever get your property back!
The legal theory behind civil forfeiture is that your property is guilty of a crime - not you. And since it is a civil procedure, NONE of the protections that would apply to a criminal proceeding are in place.
Your property is presumed guilty. If you can’t prove it is “innocent,” you can lose it - even if you have not been accused of any wrongdoing!
Even if you are tried and acquitted of a crime, the government can still take your property through civil forfeiture!
Does this sound like the America you know and love?
Civil forfeiture laws create a perverse incentive for police to target and seize property INSTEAD of targeting, investigating, and proving actual criminal behavior.
With governments at all levels struggling to pay for their out-of-control spending, it is no surprise this terrible law has encouraged law enforcement and District Attorneys to "Police For Profit" and self-finance by targeting our private property as a funding source.
These ill-gotten funds are often abused.
Countless people across the U.S. have fallen victim to this terrible law.
This is America, where we are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. But now, law enforcement says you are guilty until you prove you are innocent.
There is hope with S.B. 299. This bill will help put a stop to civil asset forfeiture by requiring law enforcement to have an arrest and conviction BEFORE you would have to forfeit your property.
Call Senator Rodric Bray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Law, at 317-232-9400 TODAY and ask him to put S.B. 299 on the calendar for a vote!
Signing this petition will tell your representative that you elected them to represent YOU and to protect YOUR private property rights.
You did NOT elect them so they could fold to pressure from Sheriffs and Prosecutors who want to continue "Policing For Profit" and financing government confiscation of YOUR private property!
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PDFTags: civil asset forfeiture, Policing for Profit, Indiana