Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jul 1999
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Author: MIKE PARKHURST

PROPERTY CONFISCATION OUT OF CONTROL

Editor -- While the House should be applauded for its recent bipartisan
375-to-48 vote to curtail abusive law enforcement from continuing to run
amok by illegally seizing property, some of the hand clapping should include
slaps on the wrists to Congress for allowing various police agencies to
confiscate property from innocent victims in the guise of ``crime
crackdown.''

Instead of fiddling while the Constitution burned, those same lawmakers
should have been vigorously defending the Fifth Amendment which, in part,
states that ``no person . . . (shall be) . . . deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation.'' ``Due process'' has been
well-established as a trial in a court of law, not the malignant gaze of an
ambitious prosecutor.

Now, the state Senate is considering Soviet-style confiscation of property
of those suspected of pornography? If the poorest and least-protected
citizens cannot enjoy true justice, how far behind might be the middle
class, the rich? Will someone suspected of burning the American flag have
his home or car seized and sold by the Flag Police? What next? Will letters
to the editor criticizing government be considered treasonous?

MIKE PARKHURST, Half Moon Bay

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