ASSET FORFEITURE

Fourth Amendment Forbids Current System

Elected representatives and law enforcement officials need to review the
Constitution they swear to uphold. State House Bill 1404 states the intent
of the bill is to make it harder for police to seize homes, cars, money and
other assets allegedly involved in crime ("Revising seizure law too risky,
officials say," Metro, April 2).

Apparently, law enforcement officials think it's too restrictive to be
required to link the seizure of personal property to a crime. The news
story stated "police now can take a person's property or financial assets
without a conviction." The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States, a document that I assume still has some relevance, states,
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized."

Seizure law reform proposed under HB 1404 is necessary, not only on the
state, but on the national level, to protect everyone's rights as a United
States citizen.

I hope we are not evolving to a police state run by tyrants.

Carl Freeman

Colorado Springs