Michigan Supreme Court Rules Against Detroit's Asset Forfeiture Racket
The ruling is the second recent court decision that has curbed Detroit's aggressive vehicle forfeiture program.
The ruling is the second recent court decision that has curbed Detroit's aggressive vehicle forfeiture program.
Robert Williams was arrested in 2020 after facial recognition software incorrectly identified him as the person responsible for a Detroit-area shoplifting incident.
In data from over 200 cities, homicides are down a little over 19 percent when compared to a similar time frame in 2023.
Wayne County was seizing cars and using its less-fortunate residents as piggy banks.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan argues that shifting taxes from homes to the land they sit on will encourage development and cut taxes for most homeowners. Local property tax activists aren't convinced.
The president voiced support for the union's goals on the picket line but companies are already struggling to build fuel-efficient cars that Biden wants to prioritize.
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Labor actions largely respond to policies that cause widespread pain.
A federal circuit judge writes that Detroit's vehicle seizure scheme "is simply a money-making venture—one most often used to extort money from those who can least afford it."
The 2013 bankruptcy filing didn't make the city more prosperous, more functional, or less corrupt.
Tiffany Lindsay says officers never contacted her to let her know they shot her dog. Instead, a neighbor found it in their trash can.
Tiffany Lindsay wants answers and an apology after her neighbors discovered her dead dog, shot the night before by Detroit police, in their garbage can.
Though state laws in both places have not yet adapted, consumers of "entheogenic" plants and fungi are now less likely to be arrested and prosecuted in the two cities.
Detroit leaders throw around words like "fairness" and "equity" while shielding big restaurants from smaller competition.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that makes "entheogenic plant" possession the city's "lowest law-enforcement priority."
"The best vaccine for you is the first one you can get."
California bounds from one crisis to another; most of them being self-imposed.
A 2016 Reason investigation found Detroit police have a nasty habit of shooting dogs during drug raids.
The lawsuit says Wayne County police stop and seize cars simply for entering or leaving certain areas.
The lawsuit claims two cops yanked a woman's door open, then shot her two dogs when they ran outside.
A city official even vouched for Sheefy McFly, but police arrested him for resisting.
"She's not a vicious dog at all. … She's a sweetheart."
The settlement is the latest in a string of costly settlements resulting from violent drug raids by Detroit police that left family pets dead.
Magistrates don’t care whether defendants can pay, leaving the indigent stuck in jail before they’re ever convicted.
The lawsuit argues that the excessive penalty violated her Eighth Amendment rights. The Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case.
"Just as the police cannot destroy every unlicensed car or gun on the spot, they cannot kill every unlicensed dog on the spot."
This is how the system is supposed to work.
More than a third of those shootings were by a narcotics unit at the center of several civil rights lawsuits.
Reading is fundamental, but it's not a fundamental right.
Pets shouldn't be treated as contraband.
Siwatu-Salama Ra used a legally purchased firearm to protect her family. She was sentenced to 2 years in prison.
The settlement is the latest big payout in a string of lawsuits over dog shootings by Detroit police.
Maybe this is how the war on drugs should be fought from now on.
Nikita Smith sued the Detroit police after they shot her three dogs on a pot raid. A judge ruled the dogs were "contraband."
Many of the homes were taken through likely unconstitutional tax foreclosures.
"If you keep asking for a warrant, we are gonna kill those dogs and call child protective services to pick up your kid."
This is why Detroit can't have nice things.
The Detroit Crime Lab, shut down in 2008 for negligence, switched test bullets with autopsy bullets in order to convict Desmond Ricks.
The city has shuttered well over half its dispensaries, and has plans to close many more.
Maria Navarete says police told her "shut up, you have no rights" as they handcuffed and pinned down her and her children.