Massachusetts Lawmaker Wants To Make It A Felony To Have Secret Compartments In Your Car
from the big-problems,-small-minds dept
A Massachusetts lawmaker is looking to give law enforcement another way to bust people and seize vehicles. Modify a vehicle you own in a certain way and you can expect to never see that vehicle again.
Blame it on the war on drugs and pressure from law enforcement lobbying. Stephan Hay, a Democrat state representative for Fitchburg, has introduced a bill that would criminalize operating a vehicle with a hidden compartment designed for the purpose of secretly transporting drugs and related contraband, equipment, currency, or weapons.
The bill, H.1266, separately criminalizes the process of altering a vehicle with the intent of creating such hidden compartments. In each case the bill calls for a two-year mandatory minimum sentence, five years for subsequent offenses. The bill also allows police to seize the modified vehicle.
Notably, the bill wouldn't limit "secret compartment" busts to those containing contraband. The presence of an aftermarket "concealed storage space" is enough to trigger an arrest and seizure. The state would have to prove there was intent to use the compartment to store contraband, but the wording in the bill [PDF] flips the burden of proof when it comes to the vehicle itself.
Proof that a conveyance contains a hidden compartment as defined in this section shall be prima facie evidence that the conveyance was used intended for use in and for the business of unlawfully manufacturing, dispensing, or distributing controlled substances.
As Reason's Scott Shackford points out, Massachusetts already has the worst forfeiture laws in the nation. This built-in presumption of guilt only makes this worse. Defendants will start out in the hole, asked to prove a negative simply to have a small shot at recovering their seized vehicle. Unknowingly purchase someone's drug-running vehicle? It's as good as gone if the police discover any secret compartments. Seeing as criminal charges would result in something more aligned with due process, it will come as zero surprise if the law is used to seize vehicles but leave prima facie "drug traffickers" otherwise unharmed.
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Filed Under: cars, compartments, massachusetts, privacy, stephen hay, storage
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I lose everything but my Harley
So does that make me a major criminal enterprise now?
But on the "good news" front, there are going to be a LOT of vehicles for sale at the next police auction...
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Magnetic Key Hider
Walmart: Magnetic Key Hider
$4.99
About this item
Magnetic Key Hider Large enough for today's rubber-headed keys with 2 magnets for extra gripping power on automobiles, RVs or any steel surface.
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And how do they prove that this is the purpose it was designed for?
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My wife's Lexus SUV allows you to remove the center plastic cupholder assembly (presumably for cleaning, and there's a large cavity underneath that she often hides stuff in that she doesn't want people to find with a cursory search of the glovebox.
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So... LEO searches your car -> breaks off panel looking for nonexistant contraband -> your car now has a "secret compartment" -> you're now operating an illegal vehicle which is now seized as you're arrested.
And of course cops will be considered exempt from "altering with intent to create" part.
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Re:
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'Possession of a kitchen knife is evidence that the accused intended to murder someone with it.'
And how do they prove that this is the purpose it was designed for?
That's the 'great' thing, they don't have to.
'Proof that a conveyance contains a hidden compartment as defined in this section shall be prima facie evidence that the conveyance was used intended for use in and for the business of unlawfully manufacturing, dispensing, or distributing controlled substances.'
The mere existence of the compartment is 'proof' that it was intended for concealing illegal activity/items, and it's up to the (former) owner to prove that it wasn't.
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So according to Stephan Hay, the serious offense of automotive battery smuggling is a thing now ..and I'm guilty!
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Instead they try to pass stupid laws for headlines because drugs & will just rake in the cash as the cars try to defend themselves without counsel.
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Re: 'Possession of a kitchen knife is evidence that the accused intended to murder someone with it.'
Or from the other side, if you found the compartment, it wasn't secret, was it?. A secret is only a secret if the other person doesn't know about it.
Perhaps the gentleman from Massachusetts means hidden...but then pretty much all cars have spaces that would count as hidden.
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A Real Money Maker for the Police
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Re:
Of course if your DieselGate vehicle is repaired with urea-based selective catalytic reduction - and they hide the diesel exhaust fluid tank rather than have it take up your trunk - that's aftermarket concealed storage. Massachusetts will have access to a database of cars with this modification.
Massachusetts Police gonna get themselves some Volkswagens!
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Re: I lose everything but my Harley
That sounds like a continuous cash stream. Seize the vehicle. Sell it off at the police auction (keeping careful records on who purchases the impounded vehicle). Then a couple of months later, pull over the purchaser for a minor infraction, "discover" the hidden compartment, and sieze the vehicle to start the cycle over again.
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Re: Re:
a) A driver must be in the car to operate it.
b) A driver is definitely an 'aftermarket' item.
c) A driver can swallow condoms/balloons full of, say, heroin.
d) The inside of the human body isn't visible with the naked eye.
e) Cops now own all the cars.
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War On Intelligent Thinking
There is no hope or help for this stupid machine called guvmint and crooks who benefit as the result of their ineptness, cruelty, stupidity.
As the former AG under Bush said, "The Constitution is a quaint document."
The F...... Bunch of Iiots, or FBI, now regards anyone who cites the Constitution to be terrorists, when they are not busy entrapping the mentally challenged.
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Spare Tire compartment
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Re: 'Possession of a kitchen knife is evidence that the accused intended to murder someone with it.'
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Re: Re: 'Possession of a kitchen knife is evidence that the accused intended to murder someone with it.'
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Re:
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If it's okay over here, its okay over there!
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Re: Spare Tire compartment
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Re: I lose everything but my Harley
For sale? Really? In the stories I've read, the chief gets to keep 'em, and drive 'em around town.
But if they're auctioning cheap, cool cars, especially with secret hiding places, I'm down with that. Keep on seizin'!
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Re: Magnetic Key Hider
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Re:
Soon to be some cop's wife's SUV?
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Re: Re: Re:
Only the ones they want. Play it safe, drive a beater.
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Re: I lose everything but my Harley
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I knew it!
Proof that many new cars are "intended for use in and for the business of unlawfully manufacturing, dispensing, or distributing controlled substances"!
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Scope creep
"...and has been installed in or attached to a conveyance..."
Don't even think about hiding things up your ass...
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Re: 'Possession of a kitchen knife is evidence that the accused intended to murder someone with it.'
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Re: Re: I lose everything but my Harley
register it out of state. If you own property in another state, use that address to register the vehicle, and also get a drivers license in that state, instead of Massachussets.
This is why rich people will not be as affected. Just simply buy a home in another state, and use that address to register the vehicle, and then get a drivers license in that state
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Your cupholder
That is becuase the space beneath the cupholder could be used to hide stuff.
I know this becuase when I had my 2005 Cobalt, I woudl keep all of my credit cards and most of my bank cards hidden there, when on trips, as well as my casino winnings in Nevada, when I hit a $200 jackpot on a poker machine, just in case I did get stopped, so no cop would ever find my cash.
I also kept my cards hidden there when travelling to places where the ERAD might be used, so if any cop had stopped me and wanted to see my cards, I could show just the one credit card I had in my shirt pockets, and the any cop had asked if any had any more cards, I would have lied to him and said no I did not.
Fortunately I did not have such an encounter, but I was well prepared.
The space beneath the cupholder in those models is very handy, not just to hide stuff from cops, but also to foil any car burglars as well.
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Re: Magnetic Key Hider
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Re:
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Re: Re: Re: I lose everything but my Harley
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Re:
Someone once took my car on a joyride, and I was able to use Find My Android to go where they left it and get it back, no need to call police.
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and hidden NOS, but that doesn't count
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Re: Re:
Just jam the frequencies the cameras are using.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: I lose everything but my Harley
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Should we be shocked?
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Re: Should we be shocked?
Which?
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Re: Magnetic Key Hider
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Re:
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Re: Re: Magnetic Key Hider
If the Walmart link is simply too much for you, then let me google that for you.
Looks like Home Depot has another brand listed for $2.58: “This item is available in stores.”
Some reviewers recommend avoiding the cheaper ones, and getting a high quality one from an auto parts store. Advance AutoParts carries one from AutoCraft. It's listed at $3.99, so maybe it's much better quality.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I lose everything but my Harley
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Re: Re: Magnetic Key Hider
Yes, indeed. From the Massachussetts bill —
(Emphasis added.)
Attached magnetically would be “attached”.
Also from the bill, in (d) —
(Emphasis added again.)
Testimony that a magnetic key hider was magnetically attached to a car could be supplemented with twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows showing exactly where the key hider was found magnetically attached to a car.
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Re: Re: Re: Magnetic Key Hider
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So the locked pistol case under my seat is now criminal?
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Not that this would work, but...
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Re:
Wex [LII]: prima facie:
dictionary.law.com: prima facie:
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Cash
Nice.
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Re: Re: Re:
There would be a monitoring room, just break in there and destroy the video evidence against you that has been recorded.
Then they will have no case against you without that evidence.
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In for a penny...
And if they try to stop you from leaving via a plane after you stole you car back, were arrested for it, made bail and then skipped out on court just hijack the plane and fly to another country.
And if they try to have the police in another country arrest you and extradite you back for hijacking a plane sneak on to a shuttle to the international space station where man's puny laws don't apply.
And then when they try to get you there take the shuttle and fly to the moon and set up a base where you can definitely get away this time.
/s, just in case it wasn't obvious enough.
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Not a new idea
This has been on the books in Ohio for 5 years (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2923.241).
link
Here's the gist of it:
And yep, it's being used: link
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Not a new idea, plus more
The original post misses the bigger issue, which is that presumptions in criminal law are [almost] always unconstitutional (someone less lazy can find the cite... Volokh Conspiracy has addressed this before).
And as always, civil forfeiture laws are a form of theft.
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