District Attorney’s Office Seal Now Meaningless on Mail

The New York Times has an INFURIATING story about district attorney’s offices all over the country who LEND OUT THEIR SEALS AND SIGNATURES to debt-collection companies to help them bully people in to paying fines for bad checks. “In return, the companies try to collect not only the unpaid check, but also high fees from debtors for a class on budgeting and financial responsibility, some of which goes back to the district attorneys’ offices.”

The thing that is C-R-A-Z-Y about this, besides everything, is that the DA seal would imply a crime has been committed, and YET: “What makes this approach unusual is that the ultimatum comes with the imprimatur of law enforcement itself — though it is made before any prosecutor has determined a crime has been committed.” Are you there, Habeas Corpus? It’s me, Logan.

Also of note: They use a woman who looks like Laura Linney as the the main victim in the scheme, whichhhhhh. Okay. If a well-dressed white lady can write a bad check, then this MUST be a problem. (But really, it sounds like a major mess.)

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