Normal Island

[Loonytoons]

Just now, resk said:

It's a minor achievement for the police, and hardly a cause for Celebrations.  

Some revel in this sort of attention.

[superwell87]

1 minute ago, resk said:

It's a minor achievement for the police, and hardly a cause for Celebrations.  

So no Heros then?

[Loonytoons]

Just now, superwell87 said:

So no Heros then?

That pun is quality, streets ahead of the rest

[Brother Blades]

Puns are shite! 

Lets get back on Topic! 

[superwell87]

10 minutes ago, Brother Blades said:

Puns are shite! 

Lets get back on Topic! 

Would it not be better toTime Out of these puns for now? Then we can Boost forward with them later....

[Dan Steele]

Keep the puns. Lots of snickers around the office on reading them.

[GNU_Linux]

At least they weren't carrying cakes which have killed people in Czechia.

[Iminavest]

Seizing chocolate rather than catching real criminals, the polis up to their same old Twix! 

[velo army]

No puns, but I was reading that in the states that "civil forfeiture" is just an excuse to take anything from people while a search is being conducted. One woman had $100k taken from her after a sniffer dog located the money in her bag. There was no criminal activity reported or even witnessed, it was just, apparently, taken from her. In America citizens lose more money to police searches than to burglaries annually. Most of the forfeitures are smaller amounts and, as you can imagine, come from poorer communities. 

I wonder if the same thing happens here but we tend not to hear too much about it.

 

[lichtgilphead]

4 hours ago, velo army said:

No puns, but I was reading that in the states that "civil forfeiture" is just an excuse to take anything from people while a search is being conducted. One woman had $100k taken from her after a sniffer dog located the money in her bag. There was no criminal activity reported or even witnessed, it was just, apparently, taken from her. In America citizens lose more money to police searches than to burglaries annually. Most of the forfeitures are smaller amounts and, as you can imagine, come from poorer communities. 

I wonder if the same thing happens here but we tend not to hear too much about it.

 

Google "POCA forfeiture scotland". The largest seizure of cash on page 1 is £6,5m

[BFTD]

4 hours ago, velo army said:

No puns, but I was reading that in the states that "civil forfeiture" is just an excuse to take anything from people while a search is being conducted. One woman had $100k taken from her after a sniffer dog located the money in her bag. There was no criminal activity reported or even witnessed, it was just, apparently, taken from her. In America citizens lose more money to police searches than to burglaries annually. Most of the forfeitures are smaller amounts and, as you can imagine, come from poorer communities. 

I wonder if the same thing happens here but we tend not to hear too much about it.

Yeah, there's a whole Galaxy of info about civil forfeitures in the States. In some states they're literally highway robbers. Can pull you over and, if they find an amount of cash over a certain amount in the vehicle (it can be as low as $2000), they'll take it and claim it's the proceeds of an illegal drug purchase. There's been cases where they've literally taken the money out of people's wallets. The money's used directly by the police, so it's actually in their interests to steal from the general public wherever possible. No downside for them whatsoever.

 

[Wee-Bey]

Got to remember that the figures quoted are just what is reported. How much is 'lost' on the way back to the station ?

[btb]

The very epitome of Normal Island in 2023....

Quote

Fifty-seven swimmers fall sick and get diarrhoea at world triathlon championship in Sunderland

 

[Fullerene]

On 04/08/2023 at 13:11, Brother Blades said:

Puns are shite! 

Lets get back on Topic! 

Special mention to Constable Tobler - one of the officers involved.

[tamthebam]

On 04/08/2023 at 18:24, velo army said:

No puns, but I was reading that in the states that "civil forfeiture" is just an excuse to take anything from people while a search is being conducted. One woman had $100k taken from her after a sniffer dog located the money in her bag. There was no criminal activity reported or even witnessed, it was just, apparently, taken from her. In America citizens lose more money to police searches than to burglaries annually. Most of the forfeitures are smaller amounts and, as you can imagine, come from poorer communities. 

I wonder if the same thing happens here but we tend not to hear too much about it.

 

The Prosecutor can move for forfeiture of money in court (and other goods like computers in the case of pervs) and there is scope for this to be appealed as any other court sentence or disposal 

Or a statement of proceeds of crime will be served by the Prosecutor detailing the reckoned amount made by the unlawful activities (usually drug dealing, sometimes fraud) and the available amount which can be recovered. A hearing will be assigned and the Sheriff or Judge will make an order for an amount to be paid under the Proceeds of Crime Act. As an aside a lawyer friend of mine had a client who had to sell a fancy watch- it went for half the reckoned value because it was bloody hideous 

It's not to say there aren't Bruce Robertsons out there pocketing cash found in raids but I think the Polis are fairly scrupulous when it comes to accounting for seized goods 

[BFTD]

8 hours ago, tamthebam said:

The Prosecutor can move for forfeiture of money in court (and other goods like computers in the case of pervs) and there is scope for this to be appealed as any other court sentence or disposal 

Or a statement of proceeds of crime will be served by the Prosecutor detailing the reckoned amount made by the unlawful activities (usually drug dealing, sometimes fraud) and the available amount which can be recovered. A hearing will be assigned and the Sheriff or Judge will make an order for an amount to be paid under the Proceeds of Crime Act. As an aside a lawyer friend of mine had a client who had to sell a fancy watch- it went for half the reckoned value because it was bloody hideous 

It's not to say there aren't Bruce Robertsons out there pocketing cash found in raids but I think the Polis are fairly scrupulous when it comes to accounting for seized goods 

What's supposed to happen to proceeds of crime here? In some parts of America it literally goes towards police activities and retirement funds, which strikes me as lunacy unless you actively want corruption.

Here's where I again mention that a charity I worked for handed thousands of pounds over to the polis that had probably been picked up in a house clearance after someone died - it was found in a random box in a black bag, and we'd no idea where it had come from, as it had been moved about between locations several times before being opened, and house clearance and donations are a daily occurrence. The polis lied about their procedures for dealing with lost money, didn't issue the correct documentation upon receipt of it, and later admitted they'd just stuck it in a fund for police social activities. Took the involvement of the BoD and local MP to get an admission that they'd have to return the money as it hadn't been claimed, and after a couple of years they still hadn't actually handed it over. At one point they were claiming the guy who wrote the cheques was always on holiday or in another building  

So, if you ever find money and would like to keep it if the owner can't be found, I STRONGLY ADVISE against polis involvement.

[tamthebam]

1 hour ago, BTFD said:

What's supposed to happen to proceeds of crime here? In some parts of America it literally goes towards police activities and retirement funds, which strikes me as lunacy unless you actively want corruption.

Here's where I again mention that a charity I worked for handed thousands of pounds over to the polis that had probably been picked up in a house clearance after someone died - it was found in a random box in a black bag, and we'd no idea where it had come from, as it had been moved about between locations several times before being opened, and house clearance and donations are a daily occurrence. The polis lied about their procedures for dealing with lost money, didn't issue the correct documentation upon receipt of it, and later admitted they'd just stuck it in a fund for police social activities. Took the involvement of the BoD and local MP to get an admission that they'd have to return the money as it hadn't been claimed, and after a couple of years they still hadn't actually handed it over. At one point they were claiming the guy who wrote the cheques was always on holiday or in another building  

So, if you ever find money and would like to keep it if the owner can't be found, I STRONGLY ADVISE against polis involvement.

The Court collects the forfeiture/confiscation money and it goes to the Scottish Government who build kiddies playgrounds and the like. Or that's what we're told.

As for keeping any money you come across there's a chap called Chigurh wanting a word ..

 

[Boo Khaki]

"Children's playgrounds built off the back of drug money" sounds like a fantastic way to wind Mumsnet right up.

[BFTD]

Pablo Escobar's supposed to have sunk millions into community projects like kiddies playgrounds, with the cynically-minded claiming it was so the people would protect him from the authorities.

Scotland needs a better class of drug dealer.

[Boo Khaki]

Might be a vote winner

"as Prime Minister, my Government will embark on a public spending programme of Escobarian scale"