REFORM FORFEITURE LAWS

Our country, the United States of America, is assumed to be the land of the
free. However, one hidden law, civil forfeiture, has been robbing us of our
constitutional rights.

Civil forfeiture laws are now being used more and more to take innocent
citizens' property.

Federal and local law enforcement agencies have the right to seize your
home, car, money - without arrest. They need only "probable cause."

They may keep your property by charging it with a crime, and since objects
have no civil rights, it is nearly impossible to prove it innocent.

Civil forfeiture violates your constitutional rights.

It provides incentive for law officials to continue to seize innocent
Americans' property.

With federal and local law enforcement agencies in charge of all seizures,
our country now represents more of a "police state" rather than a "society
state" with civil rights.

Law enforcement is entitled to keep 80 percent of all property they arrest,
with only 20 percent going to future drug prevention.

This is adding incentive for law officials to make many unnecessary
seizures. Although this law is violating our Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth amendments, there are things we can do about it. "The Civil Asset
Forfeiture Reform Act" puts the burden of proof back where it belongs, on
the government.

We, as a community, need to support this act by lobbying against civil
forfeiture as it is today.

We also need to ask ourselves why our congressmen and Speaker of the House
Dennis Hastert are not taking action against this.

If he does not take action soon, we may see our country descending into a
police-ruled society, rather than the free democracy it should be.

Kate Sullivan Batavia