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Are you upset about the lack of criminal penalties imposed directly by the FCC? That's mostly just an organizational issue. The FCC isn't law enforcement. They
by xxpor 5y ago
Are you upset about the lack of criminal penalties imposed directly by the FCC? That's mostly just an organizational issue. The FCC isn't law enforcement. They can only impose civil penalties.
Referring the issue to the Justice dept is really the only thing they can do. I think this goes for all independent agencies. Of course, once it's referred over there, it goes in the big tumbler of prioritization for the FBI/US Attorneys.... and I'm not shocked they wouldn't immediately jump on a non-violent, extremely technically complex case.
- ncphil 5y agoCan't help but think that if marijuana decriminalization/legalization finally happens, law enforcement will be rooting around for other low hanging fruit. Seems like this just might fit the bill. Imagining heavily armed SWAT teams breaking down the doors of call centers and swarming in. On that happy note...
- micromacrofoot 5y agobased on how law enforcement has worked historically it probably depends on the racial demographics and political leanings of the perpetrators
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoThen they're in luck, because call center employees have exactly the demographics you would expect at low-paying jobs with high turnover, long hours and no benefits.
- yeetaccount4 5y agoI’ve met plenty of people across the spectrum for minor (and a few major) drug offences. None of them were rich though.
- dhosek 5y agoAlthough possession of a joint will end up with harsher penalties if you're black or Latino than if you're white.
- dvtrn 5y agoRaises hand First hand statistic attesting to it, watched it happen right before my eyes in a Texas court (except the other kid was being charged with his second DUI).
- kova12 5y agoYou also need to decriminalize heroin, meth, and crack cocaine among others before feds would start looking for more work
- wolrah 5y ago> You also need to decriminalize heroin, meth, and crack cocaine among others before feds would start looking for more work Cops specifically love weed being illegal because they can "smell weed" and use that as a justification for a lot of things.
- bluGill 5y agoThey should jump on all cases. That their job is hard is not an excuse to not do it.
- jrockway 5y agoIt's a resource issue. You should run for office on the platform of raising taxes to hire more investigators to collect FCC fines. Let me know how that goes for you.
- mlyle 5y agoPresumably we could pay for collecting tens of millions of dollars in forfeitures by ... collecting tens of millions of dollars in forfeitures.
- jrockway 5y agoYou need to front the capital to start the investigation, though. This is like saying that you can pay for asteroid mining by mining asteroids. That's true! You just need a few billion dollars to mine that first asteroid. Like startups, criminal prosecutions don't have a 100% success rate. The system, despite its flaws, has a lot of protection for defendants. So you're basically asking the taxpayers to speculate on your pet project. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
- mlyle 5y ago> Like startups, criminal prosecutions don't have a 100% success rate. Here we're primarily talking about collecting civil forfeitures. DOJ can go scoop up assets they find, and defendants can try and claw them back (and the DOJ only requires a preponderance of the evidence to keep the money).
- criddell 5y agoThere's more than one way to handle that. Maybe the fines could be used to pay for future prosecutions? Or maybe let the justice department outsource prosecution to private sector attorneys who can keep most of what they win? Doesn't California do something similar for ADA cases?