IT MAY BE LEGAL, BUT IT'S STILL PIRACY

Not since Edward Teach first prowled the high seas in pursuit of merchant
ships as a "privateer" for the British crown has a war on commerce been so
profitable.

What separated him from today's drug warriors, though, is that Teach
eventually crossed the line into out-and-out piracy as the notorious outlaw
Blackbeard - ultimately to be hunted down and killed.

The agencies that prosecute America's war on drugs need fear no reprisal.
They seize and benefit from substantial booty - houses, boats, cars,
planes, etc., along with wads and wads of cash - with the law's full blessing.

And they don't even have to prove the guilt of the alleged drug dealers
whose ill-gotten gains have been impounded.

Needless to say, no one who hoisted the Jolly Roger over the Spanish Main
ever had it so good.

Forfeiture power, initiated on the hopeful premise it could undermine drug
traffickers by depriving them of their lucre, has become a cynical game on
the part of government. The ability to take possessions of alleged
wrongdoers - it doesn't even have to involve the drug trade; it could be
used against anyone presumed to be involved in any felonious activity - has
turned into not only an unjustifiable penalty but also a reliable, and
relied-upon, source of revenue for law enforcement.

Indeed, there have been cases around the country in which children were
deprived of their homes because dad was thought to be a dope peddler.

The reason authorities have been able to get away with it is that the
assets are disposed of under civil rather than criminal laws, meaning the
state has less to prove in court than it does in pressing criminal charges
against the suspects themselves.

That also means that even if the property's owner is tried and acquitted,
he doesn't necessarily recover his belongings because it's a separate legal
action. Often, the legal costs in fighting the civil case are prohibitive
and sometimes, by the time the criminal case is resolved, the property as
been auctioned off - with proceeds going to the local constabulary.

Accordingly, it's past time the legislature shift the burden of proof for
civil forfeitures to the government and raise the legal standard for
seizures prior to a conviction. In most cases, a property owner should be
convicted of a crime before any property is forfeited.

As staunch supporters of local law enforcement and fervent believers in its
role in apprehending those who violate the rights of their fellow man, we
want to see law officers equipped with the latest technology, the most
effective armaments and the swiftest patrol cars. We want to see them paid
well, too, for the tough work they do.

However, none of law enforcement's resources should derive from the spoils
of a bust that didn't even result in a conviction. That, in effect,
penalizes the innocent.

Let's not sully law enforcement's noble mission by reducing it to thinly
veiled piracy.