The Midlothian Police Department Should Not Collect Private Debts
The Midlothian, IL Chief of Police thinks it's appropriate for his officers to help local businesses collect private debts. Midlothian's local mechanic, Merlin's Muffler and Brake, performed $500 of work for Angela Proctor, who paid back all but $108 before falling into financial trouble. From The Star:
Last Monday though, Procter received a call from Lt. Harold Kaufman from the Midlothian police.Liz Weston points out that owing money is not a crime, and that threatening people with jail time for unpaid debts is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.Procter said Kaufman told her if she didn't pay, she could be subject to criminal charges.
"He didn't say what I could be charged with if I didn't pay. But I was so scared at the time, I didn't think to ask," she said.
Procter said Kaufman instructed her to get a cashier's check and deliver it to him at the police department and he would take it to Merlin's.
But after she got off the phone, Procter said she started to think something wasn't right.
So she called the Cook County State's Attorney's office to get their input. She said she was told she should go and make payment directly to Merlin's.
Procter has since paid her bill in full, but still resents the treatment from police and wonders if others have received similar calls.
Lieutenant Kaufman politely declined to defend his actions, saying: "I'm not going to comment any further for a ridiculous newspaper article."
Police as debt collectors? [The Star via Liz Weston and The Alabama Consumer Law Blog]
(Photo: Impactmedia)
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Comments:
Lol I love the category.. "Confused Vigilantes"
"To serve and protect" corporate interests. Brutal
Yeah that burb is right next to mine, and it is hilarious to see that police force now. They got some money I guess and upgraded to a fleet of Dodge Chargers & SUV's. The patrol all 2.5 miles of the city like sharks now. Anyone from the south burbs will know what I mean when I say that they are imitating Orland Hills.
Sweet rainbow suspenders... is Midlothian, IL known for anything else? And what's that Star of David pin for? That man is confused indeed.
What's up with the hat? It's cartoonish.
what legal authority does a municipal police department have to collect a private debt? none, unless there is fraud or theft involved, they have zero authority. I would tell the pig to go fuck himself, and if he shows up at my door, call the state police or federal authorities. Last I checked, the Constitution of the United States prevents a debtor from criminal prosecution, unless pigman Bush has struck that part out (which would not be unlike the turd that he is).
Or is Midlothian one of these two-bit shithole towns like we have in south Georgia (minus the mouth breathing inbreeding rednecks)?
Welcome to America, for sale to the highest bidder! When will they start selling our country on Ebay! Use Buy-It-Now and get FREE SHIPPING!
It appears that they will soon be bringing back the debtor prisons, you know the ones that housed the poor who could not pay a back a bill and in turn had no way to pay it back because they were in prison. Hopefully the IL State AG will look into this.
@Chicago7:
That is a Keystone Cops hat: [en.wikipedia.org]
Haven't been back to Chicago area for about 30-years, nice to see things have not changed. ;)
Here's a photo of the department's new police car ...
(yes, this is a real shot of a real Mustang. Not really theirs, but may as well be!)
"He didn't say what I could be charged with if I didn't pay. But I was so scared at the time, I didn't think to ask," she said.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn accused most of the Russian people of this very same attitude when explaining why the Soviet secret police rose to power during the 1920s and 1930s, paving the way for the Gulag system. Soon it became suspicious to even ask about the criminal code. It's almost word for word verbatim how the Russians lost their legal rights.
Also agree on the pro-business interests. Imagine if the roles were reversed and the lady was trying to get the muffler shop to pay a debt. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" the cop would say. It would be interesting to see if the county commissioners, city council, etc, has a vested interest in some of these businesses.
I'm convinced the cops wouldn't be doing this for nothing. They are probably related to the business owners, or are being paid for their "services".
Disgusting, and I hope that the publicity puts an end to this.
The response of the police make me think they know it was illegal.
Am I the only one that thought of "New York's Finest Taxi Service" after they read this piece? Ahh, The Usual Suspects. How it has warped my perception...
It's not illegal to enter into a contract of debt. "Hey Merlin, you fix my muffler, and I'll pay you $100 a month for five months."
It becomes a crime when there is not contract, or you have violated the terms of the contract. The police serve evictions on behalf of property owners, why not make a call on behalf of a muffler shop? It certainly would be a police matter if these people had their muffler fixed and just drove off without paying at all. Or if they filled up with gas and only paid 4/5 of the bill.
Full disclosure: I'm from the area, and I've met Harold Kauffman, Sr. (presumably this guy's father), and he's a straight shooter. I don't know anything about this Harold Kauffman.
Full disclosure 2: I think the Dodge Charger squad cars are bad-ass.
@swalve: Yeah, but do they have the whacked-out markings?
I don't think the police should be involved until a criminal complaint has been made. Civil issues aren't their problem, unless they are being paid to serve a summons.
Of course he won't comment on the news story. He fraudulently used his position as a police officer to do a favor for a friend, and in doing so likely committed one or more felonies...
Wonder why he wouldn't want to comment further?
@swalve: It's not a *crime* to violate a contract. Being in breech of contract is a civil matter.
Just because a law is broken DOES NOT automatically mean a crime has been committed. We did away with debtor's prison a long, long, long time ago. Where have you been?
Full Disclosure: Apparently he raised a crooked son.
Always take a cop's word at what you could be charged with, then remind him that it's up to the District Attorney to follow through with prosecution, then stand back and watch them backpedal. Or get more violent. Cops are good at talking intimidation but they really don't like being reminded that they have little effect on the outcome.
Eh, some guy who owned a muffler shop knew someone high up the the police force and decided to get his buddy to scare the money out of this lady. It happens all the time. And finally someone actually spoke up about it and said hey thats against the law. Oweing money to someone is not a crime. Most repair shops won't even let the patron get their car back without payment or some payment arrangement. Now, this lady had trouble paying her arrangement and that's an issue between the OWNER and the PATRON, not the police.
@swalve: I'm sure they had to make some sort of payment or arrangement before they could even take their vehicle off the lot. As soon as that happened, it became a civil matter, not a police matter.
"Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both."
Sounds pretty cut and dried to me....
@Naughty Consumer:
Huh? What sounds cut and dried? First of all, what is it that you're quoting? Secondly, assuming you're quoting a law, which court has determined that someone is indeed guilty, who is that someone, what is the sentence the court has imposed, and who has been charged with carrying it out?
Frankly, far from being cut and dried, I don't understand anything at all about what you wrote. Can't tell whether you mean the police intended to mislead the woman as to their authority to collect the debt, or whether the woman intended to mislead the mechanic as to her ability to pay for the repair, or perhaps something else entirely.
@swalve: Man, I Dbeahn took the words out of my mouth. Civil, not criminal, man. When a police officer serves an eviction notice, they're not taking a bite out of crime but following a civil, service of process statute or procedural rule (property law, and all its arcane goodness, is rooted firmly and deeply in civil common law).
@Naughty Consumer: If the police thought that Ms. Proctor was in violation of that criminal statute, the appropriate approach for them to take would be to arrest her, not call her and demand that she send a check to Chief Silly Hat to cover the remaining debt...
In all honesty, if I were a resident of Midlothian, I'd be curious if the Chief was making these types of calls while on the public's dime or if he was off duty. At the very least.
I hope someone gets to the bottom of this.
Naughty Consumer - You have no clue what you're quoting, do you? The law you quoted has nothing to do with this case. Did you post simply because you like seeing you username in print?
The cop is clearly in violation of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and you can bet that someone in the States Attorneys will be pasing this along for investigation. The Keystone Cop will have to answer to a lot more serious authority than a "ridiculous newspaper aticle."
I have a number of friends in local law enforcement in MD. I am making a guess here, but if she wrote a bad check for the missing part of the payment that could explain the police call. If someone writes a bad check it IS illegal. If the cop calls and says "If you pay this debt back the party wont press charges" that is slightly unsavory (as they shouldnt be brokering deals) but completely legal. Ive had the same thing done before with a business partner and a vendor.
And I thought I'd seen it all. Now we're blaming the victim of criminal police corruption? Wow.
@NaughtyConsumer: Please be serious. There is no way in hell they'd be able to prosecute this lady under Wire Fraud (see [en.wikipedia.org] to know what s/he's quoting) for $108. IANAL, but I do believe that the this statute can only be used to enhance the penalty on an existing crime, and the DCPA would protect against that.
@MrFlashport: Glad to see the higher standards for posting here are actively being enforced, as was promised last week.
As far as the topic of the story, unless there is a major bit of information left out of the story, this police department overstepped its bounds immensely. This should be a civil matter, with no police involvement until some sort of complaint is issued. But wouldn't that first require some sort of written notification from the repair shop or their representatives before that could even be a possibility?
Law enforcement has no business stepping into civil matters. The end.
Police departments almost never get involved in civil process. Sheriffs on the other hand do. In act, in NYC it's all they do, along with the City Marshalls who are nothing more than privateers.
Sounds like the cop didn't do anything criminal, but needs a healthy reprimand, just for being stupid.
well, if she lived in ct, the mechanic could've put a mechanic's lien on the car after a few months, repoed the van & sold it out from under her.
Last I checked, the Constitution of the United States prevents a debtor from criminal prosecution, unless pigman Bush has struck that part out
Oh and just what part of the constitution has Bush actually removed?? I'd love to see the fun of a Constitutional Amendment in the internet age so let me know.
Midlothian cops might well be in violation of the FDCPA.
[www.starnewspapers.com],261of2.article
Too bad this didn't happen to me. I'd be talking with a consumer lawyer and discussing whether we should arrange for a federal judge to rule on whether Lt. Kaufman meets the definition of a debt collector under the FDCPA.
[www.ftc.gov]
If I was a citizen of that community I would definitely feel that an explanation is necessary. And what discipline is being meted out to make sure this egregious behavior doesn't happen again.
"Oh and just what part of the constitution has Bush actually removed??"
"Habeus corpus" mean anything to you? Georgie signed an Executive Order eliminating that Constitutional guarantee.
One stroke of the pen and BINGO! the necessity for law enforcement to show you the evidence against you was gone.
@crankymediaguy: habeas corpus was not eliminated entirely - it was suspended for people declared enemy combatants. ussc later upheld the right of u.s. citizens to protection under a writ despite being declared an enemy combatant.
the article specifically quotes parker as saying she didn't think to ask why she would be charged, but the police later say she could've been brought up on theft of service charges. that seems valid to me.
it's not like the mechanic went to the cops a week after she stopped paying. she took her van there in november, stopped paying in january & was called by the cops last week. she also moved somewhere in between. i'm sure if she kept in contact with the mechanic, explained her difficulties & threw him whatever spare money she had when she had it, he never would've contacted the cops. instead, she disappeared.
@crankymediaguy:
Not quite. Your statement is too sweeping, as the writ of habeas corpus was suspended for citizens shown or believed to be enemy combatants. Granted, what constitutes an enemy combatant can be debated, but average Joe Citizen really has little threat from this.
as a retired police.....no no no no.......
@ogman: If officer moron made that call attempting to scare a debtor into paying a bill with threats of arrest he is in violation of the wire fraud statute I quoted amoung other laws.
@ogman:15 USC 1692a clearly states he is not subject to the FDCPA. That crap about her being brought up on theft of services charges means the cops there have NO CLUE what they are doing.
@DjDynasty: You're right. Although I am getting a great laugh because those who don't know Mid-low are actually going so far as to blame Bush for this.
And @DJ_SKILZ: Perfect comparison!
Looks like the DJs have it.
So, is Lt. Harold Kaufman getting kickbacks for his work? The local DA should be looking into that because you just know there are others out there who he has called.
@mac-phisto: Seems to me that theft of services is probably a crime that requires some sort of specific intent (it would be clear from the statute, which I'm not wasting any more time looking up). If this person was paying the bill or even intended to pay when they took the service then that charge wouldn't stick. The police should know that.
@LionelEHutz: My family owns a small business (vet clinic) and on a few occasions, when clients have failed to pay their bills after a certain amount of time, and after sending these clients certified letters, we have filed police reports for "theft of services", thereby involving the police. Now, I'm not at all suggesting that's what happened here (to me it sounds like the police officer was doing a friend a (illegal) favour), but, in my experience, in certain instances the police can become involved in a debt issue.
The whole theft of services argument is bogus, as is the people that say she committed a crime. If the shop let her leave without paying, and she didn't just take off (that would be theft), they essentially extended her credit. When they did that, they took on the risk that they might not get paid. Just like Visa/Mastercard/Amex. If you don't pay your CC bill, you don't go to jail. You didn't even commit a crime. It's a civil offense. The police have no business getting involved, and the cop should be severely reprimanded for overstepping his bounds. I have no tolerance for people with even a semblance of authority who abuse it. He knew it was wrong, and I don't think a simple slap on the wrist is enough.
@Naughty Consumer: Perhaps next time you quote a statute, you should indicate what you are quoting and why it is relevant, not just copy, paste, and submit. I also think you have a distorted reading of the wire fraud statute. What he did would in no way qualify as wire fraud. He wasn't trying to defraud the lady, he was essentially acting as a debt collector that was making threats. Also, for wire fraud, it has to have occurred in interstate or foreign commerce, meaning across state or country boarders, not within the same state. Do some more research next time. Good effort though.....
That entire city (Which is about a 1/2 hour from me) is FILLED with Corruption!! For a Chicago Suburb, it makes Chicago look like they have never committed any wrong!