Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4028 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: FEBRUARY 2017 A man takes a selfie with NYPD police officers in Times Square in New York City. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images) T here may be little appetite for “po- lice reform” at the federal level, but state officials, particularly Republicans, are cracking down on loose civil asset forfeiture practices that have become so controversial in American life. You’ll get two different descriptions of the practice depending on who you’re talking to. Those that have come to rely on the money, namely law enforcement officials, say the practice is a great way to “take a bite out of crime” by seizing the pro- ceeds of criminals who are committing crimes like drug dealing and human traffick- ing. Others say that where the law is so vague that cops don’t need a guilty verdict or criminal conviction to take money and property, it has created a monster of sorts. In Texas, Republican Sen- ator Konni Burton is trying to tighten things up. Burton has proposed Sen- ate Bill 380 for the 2017 legislative session. Like many similar mea- sures in states, it holds that asset forfeiture may not occur without a criminal conviction. The caveats are similar to other laws as well. Without a conviction, civil forfeiture may only occur if the property owner isn’t available, or doesn’t claim the property as theirs. The new law also ad- dresses the problem of state prosecutors passing cases off to federal law enforcement agencies to beat the state law. “Civil asset forfeiture is a strong tool for law enforce- ment to combat large crimi- nal enterprises. However, more protections must be built into the system to en- sure the government is not wrongfully taking property from innocent Texans,” Bur- Pols use issue to get votes Homicides claimed more lives in Brazil from 2011 to 2015 than the Syrian civil war during the same period, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum: 278,839 for Brazil, against 256,124 in Syria. ton told TheBlaze. “For too long we have allowed the erosion of our foundational property rights in the name of law and order. SB380 will restore those rights.” Hand crafted silver and gold jewelry by a former San Antonio PD Detective. Rings, pendants, tie tacks, charms. Low prices, beautiful craftsmanship. www.sadiamonds.com 210-930-3900