All fifty states criminalize stealing, but so far no state has moved to prohibit administrative theft by police — until now. On Friday, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (R) signed HB 560 into law, making her state the first to end the practice of civil asset forfeiture, also known as “policing for profit.”

Under the now-prohibited practice, police were authorized to seize cash and property held by suspects without convicting or even charging them with any crime; because property is not subject to the same constitutional rights as human beings, this allowed prosecutors to work with the police to circumvent constitutional protections to target any person whom they so much as suspected may be involved with criminal activity. According to Phil Smith at the Drug War Chronicle, HB 560 replaces civil forfeiture with the practice of criminal forfeiture, which still permits police to seize property — but only after the defendant has been convicted.

The move makes New Mexico the first polity within US jurisdiction to end the practice of civil forfeiture outright. US Attorney General Eric Holder made headlines earlier this year by announcing restrictions on the use of the practice by federal agents, but stopped short of ending it entirely. Now the onus is on his successor and the 49 state legislatures which have not yet followed New Mexico’s lead to make sure that the US truly is the land of the free, and that every person therein truly is innocent until proven guilty.