Police Can Use a Legal Grey Area to Take Indefinite Custody of Belongings

theatlantic.com

24 pointsjseliger4 comments

The law needs a refactoring of its technical debt. But who can do the work to get that done?

If the law permits a unconstitutional loophole, then the law itself is unconstitutional. Start striking laws permitting the NYPD to operate this way until you've removed the cancer that is the theft of personal property without due process.

If too much is cut away, then I suppose the politicians will have to prioritize making their laws legal, now won't they?

Ideally you would be correct, but the big issue with that approach is that the Supreme Court has proven itself pretty amenable to police and prosecutors. Radley Balko's RISE OF THE WARRIOR COP[1] covers that extensively. In effect, the police keep coming up with ways to dull the Amendments 3-6, with legislatures' happily passing laws ratifying them. Unfortunately, the Court tends to side with the state in those situations.

[1] Panel discussion here: http://www.cato.org/events/rise-warrior-cop-militarization-a...

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