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DOJ SUSPENDS ASSET FORFEITURE EQUITABLE SHARING Police Currently Take More of Citizens’ Assets Than Do Thieves Federal Sharing Linked to Circumvention of State Reforms

12/23/2015

Contact: Mikayla Hellwich
240.461.3066
Media@leap.cc For Immediate Release: Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015

DOJ SUSPENDS ASSET FORFEITURE EQUITABLE SHARING
Police Currently Take More of Citizens’ Assets Than Do Thieves
Federal Sharing Linked to Circumvention of State Reforms

Washington, D.C. – The Department of Justice released a memorandum addressed to local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies Monday to announce that the equitable sharing program for asset forfeiture funds has been temporarily suspended due to financial considerations. This means that state and local law enforcement can no longer expect to receive a share of federal funds confiscated through the process of civil asset forfeiture, a method by which law enforcement can seize property and money from individuals without charging them with a crime. Until now, the Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Program allowed departments to keep up to 80% of assets seized in joint operations, a practice scholars have shown allows local agencies to circumvent reforms in their own states. At least one estimate puts the amount of assets confiscated by law enforcement agencies in 2014 above the total amount of robberies, suggesting, according to Reason Magazine, that “Your local police or sheriff's department is more likely to take your stuff than a robber.”

“This is one temporary solution I’d like to see made permanent,” said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.) executive director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a criminal justice group working to reform civil asset forfeiture. “There has been a tremendous amount of work done at the state level to reform these laws, but that’s all being undermined by equitable sharing. This is the biggest threat to civil liberties the public doesn’t know about.”

Civil forfeiture cases in most states require the lowest burden of proof (“preponderance of evidence”) to make a seizure. Since the cost of contesting the case in court is usually more than the value of the property seized, most people never challenge the case and permanently lose their property. In 35 states, the burden of proof is placed on the property owner, meaning that after the property is seized, it’s up to the owner to prove that they weren’t involved in the alleged crime.

Two of the original architects of civil forfeiture laws, John Yoder and Brad Cates, regret what the equitable sharing program has become. They told the Washington Post in 2014 that, “The program began with good intentions but now, having failed in both purpose and execution, it should be abolished.”
In November, the Institute for Justice published Policing For Profit, 2nd Edition to outline the major problems that have resulted from civil asset forfeiture. Between 1997 and 2013, 87% of Department of Justice seizures were civil and just 13% were criminal. This means that only 13% of people who had their property seized by law enforcement during this time were ever charged with a crime. The Institute for Justice concluded that the equitable sharing program made it possible for agencies to circumvent state laws by working with multi-jurisdictional task forces that included federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A link to this release online can be found here.
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U.S. GOVERNMENT ASKS SCOTUS TO DISMISS CHALLENGE TO MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

12/19/2015

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Contact: Mikayla Hellwich For Immediate Release:
Media@leap.cc Thursday, December 17th, 2015
240.461.3066

U.S. GOVERNMENT ASKS SCOTUS TO DISMISS CHALLENGE TO MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
Solicitor General Advises SCOTUS Not To Hear Lawsuit Nebraska and Oklahoma Filed Against Colorado
Washington, D.C. -- Today, U.S. Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli Jr., issued a statement advising the Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit Nebraska and Oklahoma filed against Colorado's marijuana legalization law last December. Oklahoma and Nebraska attorneys general filed the suit in hopes of re-criminalizing marijuana in Colorado, claiming it had created a burden on their own law enforcement agencies and because marijuana is still federally illegal.
The Solicitor General stated, "Entertaining the type of dispute here - essentially that one state's laws make it more likely that third parties will violate federal and state law in another state - would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of this court's original jurisdiction."
"I’m happy to see the administration is supporting states’ rights to decide their own marijuana policy," said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.) executive director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a criminal justice group working to end marijuana prohibition. “If Nebraska and Oklahoma want to stop wasting police resources on marijuana, they should be working hard to legalize and control it.”
Marijuana is legal for adult-use in 4 states and the District of Columbia and legal for medical uses in 23 states and D.C. California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Arizona, and Maine are all assembling campaigns to legalize marijuana for adult-use by initiative process in the 2016 elections. Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey are among states working on legislation that would do the same.
LEAP is committed to ending decades of failed marijuana policy that have wreaked havoc on public safety and fostered corruption and racism. Marijuana prohibition has distracted law enforcement from dealing with more important crimes, ensured that average, law-abiding citizens are treated like criminals, and deprived countless people from equitable housing, education, and employment opportunities.
A link to the release online can be found here.

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STATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS PROTECTED, FEDERAL BAN ON SYRINGE EXCHANGE FUNDING RELAXED BY SPENDING BILL

12/18/2015

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Contact: Mikayla Hellwich For Immediate Release:
Media@leap.cc Friday, December 18th, 2015
240.461.3066

STATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS PROTECTED, FEDERAL BAN ON SYRINGE EXCHANGE FUNDING RELAXED BY SPENDING BILL

President Obama Expected to Sign Bill Into Law

Washington D.C. – President Barack Obama is expected to sign a critical spending bill passed this morning by Congress that contains two significant drug policy provisions that will protect state’s rights, medical marijuana businesses and patients, and improve public health. Last year, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Sam Farr (D-CA) cosponsored an amendment that prevents the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using funds to go after state-legal medical marijuana businesses. The amendment was approved on a temporary, one-year basis in the last spending bill and will be renewed pending the President’s signature.
The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment protects medical marijuana businesses that abide by state law from federal interference. Federal law still lists marijuana under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, a category supposedly relegated to drugs that have no medical value or applicable uses in medical settings and extremely high potential for abuse and addiction. Until the amendment was passed, federal enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were still able to shut down facilities despite state law. A federal judge in California upheld the amendment in October after the DEA brought a case against a medical marijuana business owner.
“Patients who benefit from medical marijuana should not be treated like dangerous criminals, and the businesses that support them need to be protected from the old drug war mentality that still runs deep within the DEA,” said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.), executive director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionals working to end the drug war. “It’s very encouraging to see such widespread support for protecting state’s rights and the rights of patients.”
In an incredible victory for public health, the bill undermines the decades-old ban on federal funding used for clean syringe programs. Federal dollars still won’t be permitted for purchasing syringes directly, but money can be used for everything else involved in the programs, including staff, if local public health agencies in consultation with the CDC agree that there is an HIV or hepatitis outbreak. In 1988 the government banned federal funds from being used to provide clean syringes to people who inject drugs. It was a common misconception at the time that providing basic harm reduction services, such as clean needles, enables people with addictions and will increase the number of people who use drugs. This myth has been debunked repeatedly (though the same argument continues to be made against the lifesaving opiate-overdose-reversal drug naloxone), and federal law now demonstrates a more significant effort to show basic compassion and improve the health of injecting drug users and the community at large. Countries that have robust needle exchange programs are greatly reducing the spread of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis.
“Needle exchange is a public health and safety necessity,” said retired corrections officer, substance abuse counselor, and LEAP speaker, Patrick Heintz. “This new law will not only protect those who use drugs from disease, but it will help prevent other innocent victims who come into intimate contact with people who use IV drugs that have been forced for so long to share contaminated needles.”
Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized the adult-use of marijuana. Twenty-three states and D.C. allow some form of medical marijuana access. The United States has one of the lowest records of availability of clean syringe access in the developed world even though 203 programs operate in 34 states.
LEAP is committed to ending decades of failed policy that have created dangerous underground markets and gang violence, fostered corruption and racism, and largely ignored the public health crisis of addiction. The drug war has cost nearly $2 trillion dollars, yielded only disastrous outcomes, and has diverted valuable law enforcement resources away from more important crimes.
A link to the release online can be found here.

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Anti Tolls Group Announces Formation Of www.StopTollsRI.com

12/9/2015

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MEDIA ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact
Monique Chartier Tel: 401-261-0508
Larry Fitzmorris Tel: 401-835-5136
Larry Girouard Tel: 401-640-7584
Tony Viveiros Tel: 401-855-1846

Former East Bay Anti-Tolls Group Joins Forces With Other Groups To Fight Raimondo Truck Toll Plan As New Group: www.StopTollsRI.com

Supports Alternative Funding Plan & Applauds Demands for Gantry Locations

Members of the citizens group who came together to fight the Sakonnet Bridge Toll plan in the East Bay two years ago, have joined with several other advocates to form a new group aimed at stopping the Raimondo Truck-Toll plan from advancing this winter. The new group, StopTollsRI.com, says the Governor’s bridge repair plan, involving what will amount to $1.2 billion in borrowing costs, is a fiscally dangerous and woefully misguided approach which will ultimately saddle taxpayers with huge debt while enriching Wall Street banks, drive out small businesses, and further set back the state’s troubled economy.
“We believe we need to fight this plan in rapid fashion on multiple fronts,” says group spokesman Larry Fitzmorris. “We dispute the Governor’s contention that the tolls on trucks alone will ultimately be adequate to pay down the debt because there is so much inherent risk in the assumptions used. We plan to engage the public and take our fight to the Legislature this January so that lawmakers know their constituents are watching.” Fitzmorris continued, “While we wholeheartedly support Speaker Mattiello’s demand, and the Truckers Association’s recent request, that the gantry locations be made public, it won’t change our desire to see the plan squashed.”

Governor Raimondo’s Truck-Toll plan has been subject to multiple changes since first proposed, and in its current version, truck toll revenue projections are already 40% lower than first laid out, the cost of borrowing has increased by 69% and the length of time taxpayers will be paying for repairs has doubled from 15 years to 30 years. Though this legislation stalled last June, every indication is that the plan has traction for the approaching new session.

“We are dismayed that comments by Speaker Mattiello indicate he is intent on moving the Truck-Toll plan through the 2016 session in some form or another,” continues Fitzmorris. “Before this gets any further in the Legislature, we want the RI public to understand that there are so many flaws in the plan it is virtually guaranteed to become a toll on all vehicles, including cars.”
StopTollsRI.com says other proposals that have emerged would more effectively and efficiently repair RI’s bridges, and offer better protection to the taxpayers, including the Republican Policy Group’s pay-as-you-go plan, which calls for a reasonable reprioritization of spending taxpayer dollars; as well as the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s public/private partnership proposal.
Group member Larry Girouard, who is also President of RI Taxpayers, says: “RI cannot afford to set policies that continue to create a hostile business environment. In fact, it must reverse course and create a more business friendly environment. The Republican group’s plan is a win-win. It does not bury taxpayers in debt, provides more money for bridge repair, and costs less than the Governor’s plan over a 10-year period. There is no reason bridge repair cannot be funded from current revenues with a budget the size of RI’s.”

Mr. Girouard notes that the RI Independent Contractors & Associates shared the same sentiment in a statement recently. The contractor’s also believe that the RI General Assembly should find the funds within the current state budget. “The Center’s public/private partnership plan would transfer the risk of cost overruns to the private sector. Another win-win for the taxpayer.” Girouard continued, “Under both alternative plans construction jobs would be created, and, with more money available, that would mean more jobs."

Finally, group member Tony Viveiros emphasized that lawmakers need to slow down and debate the various options out there to fund bridge repair. “We urge the Governor, the Speaker and all other 112 legislators to reconsider this state-wide tolling plan. The paying public will not be fooled again. The bait and switch and backroom deals of 38 Studios were a huge wake-up call for taxpayers. They are not going to accept a 38 Studios style transportation deal.” Viveiros continued, “We know the drill, it will be ‘Trucks Today, Cars Tomorrow’."

StopTollsRI.com is a group of citizens opposing not just the Governor’s Truck-Toll plan, but any plan for tolls. You can take action to oppose the tolls atwww.StopTollsRI.com. The group includes members of these citizen taxpayer advocacy groups:

Member Organizations:
Concerned Island Citizens
Portsmouth Concerned Citizens
Little Compton Taxpayers
Sakonnet Toll Opposition Platform (STOP)
North Kingstown Taxpayers
RI Taxpayers
Ocean State Taxpayers in Action (OSTPA)
The Gaspee Project

Supporting Organizations:
Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity
WatchdogRI.org

-=-=-The Gaspee Project · United States
You can also keep up with StopTollsRI on Twitter or Facebook.

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Rhode Island's First Annual International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers

12/7/2015

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For Immediate Release

12/07/2015

Contact:
Bella Robinson: show contact info

COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) will host Rhode Island's first annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers in Providence on Thursday, December 17th from 6-8 pm at the Sarah Doyle Center. (26 Benevolent Street Providence, RI 02912 Phone 401-863-2189)

The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (IDEVASW) was founded after Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, was caught and confessed to the murder of over 90 prostitutes. Ridgeway said that because of the social position of prostitutes, he believed he could kill as many as he wanted without getting caught and without anyone caring. Sadly, many Seattle sex workers knew exactly who Gary Ridgeway was for years but were afraid of coming forward and being arrested, or when they did come forward the police didn't seem to care.

"When I arrived in Rhode Island prior to criminalization, I knew that I could dial 911 and report violence and nobody had the ability to threaten, abuse, or coerce me," said Bella Robinson. "I felt safe and free for the first time in my life. Then Rhode Island recriminalized prostitution in November of 2009 and then less than four hours away over a dozen bodies of murdered escorts were found on Gilgo Beach. Sex workers need access to equal protection under the law so we can dial 911 and report violence."

Click Here For Facebook Event Link
COYOTE: http://www.coyoteri.org
IDEVASW Website: http://www.december17.org

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WHISTLEBLOWERS EXPOSE PIPELINE SAFETY VIOLATIONS

12/3/2015

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For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Dec. 1st
Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG)
Contact: Nick Katkevich, 401.572.8148, nkatkevich@gmail.com
WHISTLEBLOWERS EXPOSE PIPELINE SAFETY VIOLATIONS
Claims Raise New Concerns Over Spectra Pipeline Expansion
Providence, RI – Local community members and activists gathered Tuesday morning on the steps of the Rhode Island State House to announced new claims of pipeline safety and environmental violations associated with Spectra’s multi-billion dollar AIM pipeline expansion project. Coming forward with these claims are two former Spectra contractors whose job was to act as safety inspectors on the expansion project, including overseeing construction of four gas pipeline compressor stations in Burrillville RI, Stoney Point NY, Cromwell, CT and Chaplain,CT.
According to the Whistleblowers, Spectra Energy pressured inspectors to hide information from safety reports and circumvent rules while rushing to complete the "AIM" project at all costs. In a series of interviews with journalists and community organizers, a former top safety inspector stated that workers on the project suffered heat exhaustion and were pushed to work 70-80 hours a week while attempts to raise concerns were met with immediate retaliation.
The former inspectors reported that "we were told to shut the f*** up or quit" and that “at every turn when I made a safety suggestion, I was met with monumental resistance from the company on every level.” Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG) has launched a new website, SpectraExposed.org, that shares detailed testimony from the whistleblowers.
The inspectors report that the situation is so toxic that if the company doesn't change their workplace culture, the safety mishaps and continuous violations could lead to a catastrophic pipeline explosion. “It’s safety above all else until you have a one billion dollar project that’s behind on permits, then its go, let’s go. I have had inspectors that have come up to me in the field and have said to me that there is a pipe buried underground that was not inspected appropriately. And the reason that it was not excavated and inspected is that it cost too much money.”

An April 2015 investigation by Politico shows that last year alone, more than 700 pipeline failures killed 19 people, injured 97 and caused more than $300 million in damage nationally. Two of the past five years have been the worst for combined pipeline-related deaths and injuries since 2000.
Kathy Martley, founder of Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE), stated. “I live within a quarter mile of Spectra’s compressor station and pipeline expansion project. I already can’t sleep because of the constant noise, and fear that a major incident or explosion could happen at anytime. Why do Spectra’s profits come before the health and safety of my community?”
Resistance to Spectra’s AIM project has swelled in communities across the Northeast over the last two years. In Rhode Island, FANG and BASE have taken action to stop the expansion of Spectra’s gas compressor station in Burrillville, including community meetings, petition drives, as well as a series of nonviolent direct actions including blockades, locking down to construction equipment, and a tree-sit on Spectra’s the construction site.
The community resistance in Burrillville will continue throughout this week with a mass mobilization against Spectra Energy and the newly proposed Clean River Power Plant. On Friday December 4th there will be a community dinner and food drive in Burrillville followed up by a mass rally and action on Wallum Lake Road, near the site of Spectra’s current compressor station and where Invenergy hopes to build a $700 million gas fired power plant.
In the lead up to the mobilization FANG is leading several nonviolent direct action workshops. Those interested in attending the mobilization are encouraged to register at StopSpectra.org/December.
Burrillville RI, a rural town located on occupied Nipmuc territory, is a regional epicenter of the fracked-gas industry. The town is home to two major interstate fracked-gas pipelines, a fracked-gas power plant and two toxic fracked-gas compressor stations. As part of the Spectra expansions, one of these compressor stations would be doubled in size.

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“Ending the Drug War, Healing our Communities: Cops, Docs, and Clergy Speaking with One Voice”

12/1/2015

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For Immediate ReleaseAdvisory for event Saturday, December 5 at 9:00 AM
Contact:
Rebecca Nieves McGoldrick, Executive Director of Protect Families First
908-399-1366, rmcgoldrick@protectfamiliesfirst.org
Rev. Alexander Sharp, Executive Director of Clergy for a New Drug Policy
773-494-0420, revaesharp@gmail.com

“Ending the Drug War, Healing our Communities: Cops, Docs, and Clergy Speaking with One Voice”
Faith leaders, law enforcement officers, and health professionals gather for conference at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Providence to discuss urgent need for drug policy reform

PROVIDENCE — For over forty years the war on drugs has been waged with the criminal justice system its primary weapon. This war has cost the United States over a trillion dollars and millions of lives. Today, 1 in 35 American adults is under control of the criminal justice system, with arrests, convictions, and lengthy sentences impacting Blacks and Latinos disproportionately. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, claiming the lives of more than 44,000 people each year, and tens of thousands of people in Mexico and Central America have been killed, disappeared, or displaced because of drug war violence. Leaders from faith, law enforcement, and medical communities are calling for immediate reform.

WHAT: Conference with three panel discussions focused on the war on drugs and alternative policies based in science, health, compassion, and human rights
WHEN: Saturday, December 5, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
WHERE: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 15 Hayes St., Providence, RI 02908

WHO: Rev. Alexander Sharp, Executive Director of Clergy for a New Drug Policy
Major Neill Franklin, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Dr. David Lewis, Founder of Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies
Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, Chaplain of Brown University
Father David M. Martins, Pastor of Saint Therese Old Catholic Church, West Warwick and Executive Director of Rhode Island Communities for Addiction Recovery Efforts
Jordan Seaberry, Providence Community Organizer
Richard Van Wickler, Superintendent of Cheshire County Dept. of Corrections in New Hampshire
Michelle McKenzie, MPH, Research Associate at Brown University Medical School
Dr. James Crowley, former President of the Rhode Island Medical Society
Rev. James Keller, Presbyterian Church (USA)

# # #

Protect Families First is a Rhode Island-based youth and family organization working to end the war on drugs. Learn more atwww.ProtectFamiliesFirst.org

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