The Fraternal Order of Police are lobbying furiously for the Hutchinson/Weiner Amendment to HR 1658, which actually eliminates all the provisions of HR 1658 and substitutes the DOJ's wish list for forfeiture expansion.  The FOP letter, which appears below, falsely portrays the Hutchinson amendment as increasing the protections available to innocent property owners, when in fact it takes away all the protections of HR 1658 and many of the scant protections now available under current law.

The letter (between the horizontal lines below) is verbatim from the FOP press release.  Click the links to see our response to each of their claims, or see the last panel for our response to their letter.

Fraternal Order of Police
National Legislative Program
309 Massachusetts Ave. N.E.
Washington D.C. 20002
Phone (202) 547-8189

F.O.P. NEWS

The National Fraternal Order of Police strongly supports the Hutchinson/Weiner Substitute Amendment to H.R. 1658, the "Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 1999," which will be considered on the House Floor Wednesday, 23, June 1999.  For additional information, please contact the National Legislative Office at (202) 547-8189.

The Hutchinson/Weiner Amendment will increase the protections available to innocent property owners in forfeiture cases, while preserving the ability of law enforcement to separate the proceeds of illegal activity from criminals and drug traffickers.

Specifically the legislation would:

• Place the burden of proof on the government by a "preponderance of the evidence," the standard of proof in most civil cases;
• Establish a uniform innocent owner defense that will ensure that criminals cannot shield their property through sham transactions;
• Provide for the appointment of counsel for those individuals who cannot afford their own lawyers; and
• Allow seized property to be returned pending trial if it is proven that the forfeiture will cause a substantial hardship to the individual, while ensuring that property that is likely to be used to commit additional criminal acts if returned is not subject to release.

The Fraternal Order of Police is the nation's largest organization of law enforcement professionals, with over 277,000 members.

FEAR's annotations to this letter:

1.  "The Hutchinson/Weiner Amendment will increase the protections available to innocent property owners": FALSE!  This substitution bill takes away all of the reforms of HR 1658 and substitutes in its place, the provisions of the bill DOJ introduced last year -- HR 1965!  Many of the provisions of this bill are worse than current law!  They take away more due process than they give, and each little tidbit of due process it does contain is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

2.  "while preserving the ability of law enforcement to separate the proceeds of illegal activity from criminals and drug traffickers."  TRUE, it preserves the ability of law enforcement to separate assets from its owners -- but it lessens the protections of innocent owners by placing additional burdens on property owners to prove innocence, and exempts some categories of property interests from any innocent owner protection at all.  It would be more truthful to say that the Hutchinson/Weiner Amendment helps the police take property from people other than criminals and drug traffickers.

3.  "Place the burden of proof on the government by a 'preponderance of the evidence,' the standard of proof in most civil cases." TRUE, preponderance of the evidence is the standard in most civil cases, but civil forfeiture is punishment.  In criminal cases, you can't be punished until you are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  Losing your home, your car, your bank accounts, or even everything you own in this world is certainly as punitive as going to jail.  Raising the government's burden of proof to "clear and convincing evidence" is the least we should do.

4.  "Establish a uniform innocent owner defense that will ensure that criminals cannot shield their property through sham transactions."  This bill takes away from the existing protections for innocent owners.  To make sure "criminals" don't shield their property through sham transactions, they make your property vulnerable to forfeiture.

5.  "Provide for the appointment of counsel for those individuals who cannot afford their own lawyers." The Hutchinson Amendment's procedures for the appointment of counsel subject the property owner to cross-examination by the prosecutor without counsel, and create so many more obstacles to the appointment of counsel that no one would dare ask for court appointed counsel.

6.  "Allow seized property to be returned pending trial if it is proven that the forfeiture will cause a substantial hardship to the individual, while ensuring that property that is likely to be used to commit additional criminal acts if returned is not subject to release."  The release pending trial provisions of the Hutchinson amendments have so many obstacles and exceptions that few will qualify.

But don't take our word for it, read FEAR's annotated version of the Hutchinson/Weiner Amendments, which contains the complete text of the amendments with our comments appended.

7.  "This amendment is similar to the compromise legislation (H.R. 1965) which enjoyed broad bipartisan support and passed the House Judiciary Committee by a resounding vote of 26 - 1 in the 105th Congress."  FALSE.  This amendment is almost identical to HR 1965.  The bi-partisan bill HR 1835 enjoyed broad bi-partisan support, but it was re-written by the Department of Justice last year and became HR 1965!  A bipartisan coalition of non-profit organizations -- including organizations as diverse as the ACLU and the National Rifle Association -- expended great efforts to lobby (successfully) against this very bill!  Now, our bureaucrats, still on the taxpayer dole, are back again lobbying for the same unconstitutional expansion of their powers, in violation of their oath to support and defend Our Constitution!  As for the "resounding vote" in the House Judiciary Committee, we are proud to say the bill we support -- HR 1658 -- passed the Judiciary Committee last week with a resounding 27-3 vote!

8.  "The Fraternal Order of Police is the nation's largest organization of law enforcement professionals, with over 277,000 members." TRUE.  And every one of them stands to benefit from expanded forfeiture powers and reduced due process for forfeiture victims, since these forfeiture laws allow the seizing agencies to keep forfeiture proceeds!

Please join with us in lobbying to defeat the Hutchinson/Weiner amendments and to pass HR 1658!  Spread the word!