« Previous | Home | Next » October 17, 2012

Legalized Stealing By The Police: Never Mind Probable Cause
Don't think the police can't take your money or property just because you've committed no crime. Here's the Institute for Justice:

Worried about our civil liberties? If not, how long have you been in a coma?

IJ's amicus brief for Clayton Harris is here.

More from an email from IJ:

Police are increasingly using drug-detection dogs to establish probable cause that results in the seizure and ultimate forfeiture of cash, cars and other property on the grounds that the property is somehow linked to a drug crime. Numerous studies show, however, that there is a significant risk that the dog's "alert" is due to cues from its handler or residual odors, rather than the actual presence of drugs.

On October 31, 2012, in Florida v. Harris, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on what evidence, if any, the government must introduce to establish the reliability of drug-detection dogs. In a criminal case involving the constitutionality of a search under the 4th Amendment, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that because it is the government's burden to prove probable cause when conducting a warrantless search, it must introduce objective evidence of the reliability of the drug-detection dog, just as it is required to do when relying on confidential informants to establish probable cause.

Although this case is in the criminal context, it provided a great opportunity for the Institute for Justice to submit a "friend of the court" brief, bringing the abuses of civil forfeiture to the attention of the High Court.

Under the rules of civil forfeiture, police may seize property based on what is known as "probable cause" that the property is tied to criminal activity. Under certain federal and state statutes, police can even subject the property to forfeiture based only on that showing of probable cause.

Consequently, if a positive dog alert, by itself, is all that is required to establish probable cause, law enforcement will be able to forfeit property such as cash and cars based merely on the roadside "testimony" of a barking dog.

Indeed, there are numerous instances in which the police have sought to forfeit cash merely because a dog alerted to the money even though there was no other evidence of criminal wrongdoing. IJ filed a brief in this case to urge the Court to stop this abuse of government power.

*

Comments