Homeland Security seizing old Landrovers

[FLOOB]

I guess the DHS has to justify its existence so they're enforcing some old obscure import law and seizing old Landrovers.

http://jalopnik.com/why-are-the-feds-obsessed-with-seizing-these-peoples-ol-1672381729

[Copprhed]

After reading the article, it doesn't really sound like much, more than likely, it was an overly zealous agent. No government conspiracy here......

[SysError]

See Rule #14

[Rich46yo]

I was told with anything under $500 I would have a Private Eye to do the initial "investigation".

Sounds to me like you were blown off. The correct answer would have been, "we have no man power to aggressively pursue these small thefts". Unless its just a slam dunk that is. The under/over $500 thing is just for case reporting. "Under" gets a code and "over" gets a different code. But in general the more valuable a thing you lost the more the Police will look for it. Which pretty much means unless you lost the Mona Lisa you just bought for 100 m then forget about ever seeing it again.

But even that depends on where you live. If you live in a small town the detective may actually take the time to investigate. In the big city nobody really even investigates stolen cars unless some kind of pattern emerges. The car gets inputted into LEADS and NCIC and then we wait to find it in some ways. Oh your case will get assigned a dick but that report will get stacked with the thousand other ones on his desk. And who knows? Your agency might actually have a policy to not even bother with under $500's, or as we call them "0820's". Maybe to not even call back the victim

No doubt many are thinking "Lazy Cops" cause they have been programmed to do so. But the real problem is there is so much thieving committed by a small % of repeat offenders, who get so many "get out of jail cards", and they make it so hard to prosecute them and put them into prison, that the entire thing has become a joke. And every one of the thousands of thieves Ive caught in the last 3+ decades have all stolen for exactly one reason. To get high. People dont steal to feed their kids in America.

But if you knew where the item was, at another job sight, and could prove it, then Im surprised more action was taken immediately. At the very least you should have been told how to pursue a warrant on the guy. But if you could prove it was there, that it belonged to you, and it actually WAS there, then the guy should have been arrested on the spot.

Let me guess? Power tools right? Man dont ever let power tools out of your sight. A Junkie will have them sold and shot up their veins so fast your head would spin.

[PR3D4TOR]

Buy a gun and hire a watchman.

[oldskool65]

Naa it's not a conspiracy as such it's HS agents jealous of the fact that Land Rover Defenders are the best 4X4 's Ever built (so far) , On the rubbish wages their on it takes too long to save up !!!

[FLOOB]

After reading the article, it doesn't really sound like much, more than likely, it was an overly zealous agent. No government conspiracy here......

I'm going to assume that you're being sarcastic.

Around 6 a.m. that same day in Yakima, Wash., and Mobile, Ala.,Homeland Security agents and police came to the homes

In a series of pre-dawn raids that morning in July, agents scoured the country for 40 Land Rovers in an ongoing civil forfeiture case.

I've always wondered why you never see the good Landrover in the states.

[PR3D4TOR]

Tax dollars well spent.

[Kuhn]

Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

[SysError]

Let me guess? Power tools right? Man dont ever let power tools out of your sight. A Junkie will have them sold and shot up their veins so fast your head would spin.

Good guess.  That time though it was dyed mortar. (Had tools stolen as well, but not that time).

And I should say that it was a little more involved than I let on (the guys was a sub, multiple jurisdictions, me going to the "wrong one" first, blah, blah).  But in general, your main point is spot on,  I got the impression that I was, at the end of day, going to end up with a copy of a report.  (They were more helpful at the second jurisdiction, but I did not think that the end result was going to be any different). 

I was not thinking "lazy cops".  I think that it was really a function of not enough resources - not enough commitment at the local level to pay for an effective and sustainable community policing program.  It was clear to me that the cops were somewhat busy.


This Defender story reminds me of the time my wife was going to buy me a restored 1960s Series II for my mid-life crisis.  I think my buddy got her a quote from these guys:
 
http://eastcoastrover.com/

Started out at 30k.  If I had gotten it, (I found out about it and talked her out of it.  I did WHAT!    ), and DHS grabbed it, I would be real pissed. 

[-ammo-]

Shouldn't DHS be down on the southern border??

[SysError]

... then the guy should have been arrested on the spot.

Forgot to mention, (and I bet you guys deal with this ALL the time), I found out about the location of the stuff from a guy who was the only link between us and the guy who ripped us off.  Very late in the process, a number of guys told me that our source would get his bellybutton kicked in if I went through with filing charges.

[SysError]

Shouldn't DHS be down on the southern border??

I think that DHS has jurisdiction within 100 miles of any Port of Entry (PoE).  So that is, 100 miles of any border, sea port, Air Port and any location that they can adjust your status (one can be "admitted" in the middle of nowhere as long as there is a CIS office around.) 

So I think that leaves area 51 and perhaps some of the larger national parks as off limits.

   

[FLOOB]

I think that DHS has jurisdiction within 100 miles of any Port of Entry (PoE).  So that is, 100 miles of any border, sea port, Air Port and any location that they can adjust your status (one can be "admitted" in the middle of nowhere as long as there is a CIS office around.)  

So I think that leaves area 51 and perhaps some of the larger national parks as off limits.

   

Apparently DHS jurisdiction extends to tasks that the US Customs Service deems a waste of time. Or perhaps US Customs lacks repo SWAT teams brave enough to get between affluent soccer mom's and their SUVs.

[-ammo-]

I think that DHS has jurisdiction within 100 miles of any Port of Entry (PoE).  So that is, 100 miles of any border, sea port, Air Port and any location that they can adjust your status (one can be "admitted" in the middle of nowhere as long as there is a CIS office around.) 

So I think that leaves area 51 and perhaps some of the larger national parks as off limits.

   

I was being a smart arse - I was just saying they should be focusing their limited manpower resources on the bigger problem:) .  It was unfair of me say but I don't feel bad.  And I think after the Patriot Act, their jurisdiction increased manifold.  Isn't there a Constitution free zone now?