Plaistow Police Re-Arm With Proceeds Of Seizures - Granite Grok

Plaistow Police Re-Arm With Proceeds Of Seizures

PlaistowPoliceI was just idly glancing through today’s Union Leader, when I stumbled across Plaistow’s “new guns for old” trade, with a sob story about how their old shotguns were literally falling apart, and how the force had worked out a deal to trade them in for newer, smaller, lighter, easy to handle models.

Great! Good for them – police need to have good equipment, but wait: “The difference between the trade-in and the total price will be paid for through the town’s forfeiture asset account.   Really? No conflict of interest here; no perverse incentives if the stuff you have “reason to believe” could have been, or is about to be, used in a crime, can be seized, and ultimately be used to fund improvements in your comfort and safety.

PlaistowTacticalTrainingOf course, safety first with those shiny new weapons: “Each officer will be trained on these new weapons before they are deployed in the cruisers, and there will be continuous training throughout the year. Sounds great.

And how will that happen? Meet the PD’s “Dream Range“, funded by, you’ve guessed it, “donations or from asset forfeiture money.   We applaud the voluntary donors, of course, but we do wonder about those involuntary donors, and the due process they received.

Let me be clear. The vast majority of cops, especially local, small town cops, are honest, friendly, and hard-working. I am not saying that Plaistow PD engaged in any underhand financing, but I am saying that civil asset forfeiture laws create a perverse incentive for police departments to “enhance” their equipment and environment with assets which were seized before a warrant and conviction had been obtained. The juxtaposition of shiny new gear and proceeds of seizures in the same short article got me thinking about this class of law, and the potential for abuse.

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