either way military people don't take kindly to playing around. especially when it comes doing stupid stuff that makes the evidence not useful in court. any good lawyer would have a field day with this if it came to a head.
Apart from misunderstanding what goes in the military (there is what happens "by the book" and what doesn't), I think you're missing the point.
If a customs guy is writing a funny note and seizing the beans,
its because he's not interested in preserving any evidence. Since the alternative you're asking for is for him instead to document the contraband, fill out the paperwork, and then send you an official letter of seizure; he's actually
doing you a favor.
I think any lawyer with two functioning brain cells would tell you that having a customs officer destroy (or better yet, steal) your beans, and leave you some stupid note is probably the best possible thing that could happen to you, because he's basically forestalling a real investigation.
Yes, it sucks to have your expensive beans seized and get tweaked for insult to injury in the process, but all things considered, that's not even close to the worst possible outcome here.
actually, if their policy hasn't changed, and it's one guy doing something differently... (i'm assuming that when beans are seized, the customs officer turns it in, and after it's processed another officer sends the standard warning note), then he's either stealing them, or throwing them away. either of which are pretty serious federal crimes. If you guys got together and sent enough evidence in to the postal inspectors to point them in the right direction (anonymously lol do not identify yourself, in fact, no reason to say it was seeds that were taken). you could probably get that guy put in prison, or at the very least fired.
Strongly, strongly doubt this.
Again, there is what happens "by the book" and then what doesn't. Yes, in the official customs policy manual, it probably states that all contraband is to be seized, logged as evidence, notes sent out, etc.
Then there is the off the record policy of what actually happens in the "real world".
In the "real world" customs is probably a lot more concerned about seizing REAL drugs (ie keys of coke, heroin, etc), and weapons than a few hemp ceeds. So instead of wasting limited time documenting ceed seizure, they're just destroying them "off the record". Considering the alternative, that's good policy, not bad, and its probably happening with the knowledge AND tacit approval of Customs higher ups, meaning that nobody is going to get fired over this. Individual customs officers probably legitimately do have the ability to exercise personal discretion in how they handle individual cases.
If you really force customs hand by drawing unwanted public attention to the treatment of these packages, the only choice they're going to have is to go "by the book" with full reports and documentation on every ceed seizure. Not sure that's really a better option.
