Proposed legislation in Alabama would make it so that law enforcement would not be able to seize a person’s property without a criminal conviction, according to the Alabama Daily News.
Senate Bill 191 challenges current Alabama law which allows officials to take property if they suspect the items were obtained through criminal activity. Regardless of if the owner of that property was not convicted of any crime, police can keep it through a civil court order, according to the Alabama Daily News.
“Our members were surprised that assets could be seized without a conviction, sometimes even without an indictment,” said Alabama State Director Rosemary Elebash.
Advocated for the bill say the process for getting property back after it has been seized can be time-consuming and costly. State Sen. Arthur Orr says the law was originally aimed at “drug kingpins”, but it is now being used against people charged with low-level crimes who cannot afford a lawyer in a civil case to get their property back.
Law enforcement officials in Alabama are not supporting the bill and have asked that the vote be delayed, citing that they were not consulted in the writing of the bill and that seizure of property is a necessary tool.