Letter: Civil asset forfeiture abominable practice

Civil asset forfeiture is being grossly abused in Hawaii. Cries by police and the attorney general to veto House Bill 748 are based on greed. Let them get their funding from the Legislature, not by stealing the assets of innocent taxpaying residents of Hawaii.

Civil asset forfeiture is so lucrative for law enforcement these days that it has spawned an entire new industry — businesses that go around the country giving seminars to police departments on how to seize even more assets from the innocent.

As practiced today, civil asset forfeiture is an abomination. No more due process, no more innocent until proven guilty, no longer secure in our persons and property. It strikes at the very heart of our constitutional rights, and should be abolished in its entirety.

What civil asset forfeiture has done is make it impossible anymore to tell who are the cops and who are the robbers.

Vicki Vierra

Keaau, Hawaii island

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