[7557]

Guns head the list of pending seized property by the Bureau of Narcotics

A Mississippi law passed this year that went into effect July 1 sets forward a process to seize property, requiring a warrant be filed within 72 hours and creates a state registry of seized property by law enforcement to be maintained by MBN.

Bureau of Narcotics Director John Dowdy said Wednesday that the website with all property seized by law enforcement across the state is expected to go live by Jan. 1. The law gives MBN a year to have the website operational.

The Legislature gave MBN authority to use seized property money to help pay for development of the website.
MBN has begun listing on its current website pending forfeiture cases that the agency has initiated.

The list of pending MBN forfeitures include:

1. Locrin model L380 pistol. Seized in McComb
2. 2012 Nissan Altima seized in Rankin County. Value: $7,000
3. 9mm locrin semi-automatic pistol. Seized in Brookville
4. 40-caliber Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol. Seized in Pascagoula
5. 9mm astra semi-automatic pistol. Seized in Crosby
6. 2014 Dodge Avenger. Seized in Rankin County

The following five weapons were seized in Holly Springs:

1. 9mm Hi-point semi-automatic pistol
2. 40-caliber ruger pistol
3. 40-caliber Hi-point pistol
4. 9mm Jimenez pistol
5. 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol

The database will allow for accounting of cases of seized civil asset forfeitures involving local or state law enforcement. There had been no way to track seized assets and the amounts. Federal forfeitures in the Mississippi, where local law enforcement agencies work with federal agents, resulted in more than $47 million received by Mississippi law enforcement from 2000 to 2013, ranking 20th for federal forfeitures, according to the national Institute for Justice in Arlington, Virginia.

 

[NRA_guy]

It's a good first step.

But I am somewhat leery of the property forfeiture process---mostly based upon horror stories I have read about folks having non-crime related cash and cars taken. Once taken you have to hire a lawyer to get it back, even if no charges were filed in some states.

I read the article and the other "news" article linked in the first story:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/...ation-track-civil-asset-forfeitures/95100668/

I never saw any mention of HOW the government converts confiscated guns and cars into cash. I have seen one or two "gun sales" (to FFL holders only) advertised around the state.

Hopefully, they don't go out the back door to buddies of the local law enforcement folks like they did 40 years ago.

Just listing it in a Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics database does not prevent abuse: "Uh, yeah. We had that Colt 1911 a while back, and it's still listed in the state's database, but I am not sure where it is now. You need to ask the state."

By the way, it's not "Brookville". It is "Brooksville".

 

[Jarhead5811]

Civil asset forfeiture is just plain wrong. It operates on a presumption of guilt. Sure, most of the people victimized by it are despicable but there have been a few innocents that just had too much cash. Either way, it’s still just plain wrong.