Upon accepting the Republican Party’s nomination as president last summer, Donald Trump declared, “In this race for the White House, I am the law-and-order candidate.”
While this declaration resonated with many voters and played a role in Trump’s ascension to the White House, it also presaged an administration that has skirted along the edges of the U.S. Constitution in enforcing its view of law and order. Recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a directive for police departments to step up the use of civil forfeiture — the seizing of possessions from citizens when those possessions might be ill-gotten gain. And last week, President Trump delivered a speech that could only be characterized as encouraging police brutality.
In the process, the administration has embraced a philosophy that runs counter to the sacrosanct ideologies that Americans are innocent until proven guilty and that they cannot be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Those freedoms are codified in the Bill of Rights, and they must hold sway over the predilections of an administration that has demonstrated it is prone to impulsiveness.
Sessions’ desire for forfeitures resonates in Washington, where state law provides undue power to law enforcement when officers believe a suspect has acquired items through illegal activity. In a case decided last month by the state Supreme Court, Andreas Gonzalez had a BMW and $5,940 in cash seized, despite little evidence he had broken the law. The court unanimously ruled in Gonzalez’s favor, writing, “There was no evidence to support a finding that Gonzalez obtained his property through the specific unlawful means.”
Civil forfeiture is simply a means for the government to seize property despite the lack of a criminal conviction. In other words, it is a manner for government to steal from citizens. At least 13 states require a conviction before assets can be seized, but Washington’s law allow for law enforcement to retain 90 percent of profits from the sale of seized property — even if a conviction is not attained. The Legislature must work to change this law.
In 2015, The Washington Post reported that more property was seized from citizens by the government than by burglars, representing an egregious abuse of power. The fact that the attorney general of the United States desires to increase this practice is an affront to those who genuinely desire law and order.
So, too, were Trump’s comments last week. Speaking to a crowd of police officers and offering advice on how to make an arrest, the president said, “Please don’t be too nice — like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head … you can take the hand away, OK?” He also continued his frequent trope of dehumanizing immigrants, referring to some as “animals” and insisting that America’s inner cities are a vicious dystopia.
Trump’s latest mockery of the Rule of Law comes at a time when tensions are high between law enforcement and the public, and it was quickly denounced by officials throughout the country. Vancouver Police Chief James McElvain said: “I was dismayed by these comments and want to assure the members of our community that the law enforcement profession, and Vancouver Police Department, has come too far in building relationships and trust within in our community to alter our course.”
Police work is difficult and dangerous. It is made only more difficult when the administration ignores constitutional protections in favor of a misguided interpretation of law and order.