Police can now seize your bank account on a traffic stop in Oklahoma

[Lion Heart 15,041]

Oklahoma police agencies are being equipped with devices that allow officers to scan prepaid debit cards and target funds linked to them for civil asset forfeiture, which allows law enforcers to permanently seize property they suspect is connected to criminal activity.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has purchased Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machines for installation in Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Oklahoma City police cruisers, according to an Oklahoma Watch report published Tuesday. The device tells officers the balance of prepaid debit cards and gift cards, and allows them to seize the money if they determine it’s suspicious. ERAD readers also can provide limited information about pretty much any card with a magnetic strip, including bank debit cards and credit cards.

Oklahoma has become a battleground in the debate over civil asset forfeiture reform in recent years, prompted by high-profile cases of cops using the practice to take cash and property from innocent people — often without charging them with a crime. Thanks to the new ERAD readers, police can now access people’s electronic funds as well.

Each ERAD reader is costing the state about $5,000, plus about $1,500 for training. The state has agreed to pay the manufacturer, ERAD Group, 7.7 percent of all funds forfeited with the readers. 

Law enforcement officials in Oklahoma and elsewhere describe civil asset forfeiture as an important weapon against the drug trade, allowing them to target illicit proceeds that may not be in proximity to contraband. They say ERAD technology is a necessary tool to keep up with criminals who have begun putting money on prepaid cards in order to avoid having cash seized by police.

..

To avoid losing the money permanently, the owner would have to fight an expensive and time-consuming legal battle to prove the property wasn’t connected to criminal activity. In civil forfeiture proceedings, the legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty” is effectively inverted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oklahoma-police-erad_us_57584060e4b0e39a28ac2083

[venusfly 17,885]

 Why are cops allowed this level of power? In what way are you going to tell if someone is laundering money by pulling them over?

[Lion Heart 15,041]

I'm still processing this. It's seems ridiculous and over the top.  

I need to research this some more. 

[kvnrp 48,353]

The police in the US is getting pretty insane

[Lion Heart 15,041]

So there's this: 

In April, police in Muskogee County drew nationwide backlash over reports that the sheriff’s department had seized more than $50,000 from the manager of a Burmese Christian rock band. Police held the money — which turned out to be donations to an orphanage and proceeds from the group’s concerts — for nearly two months before returning it due to a lack of evidence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/25/how-oklahoma-cops-took-53000-from-a-burmese-christian-band-a-church-in-omaha-and-an-orphanage-in-thailand/

 

 

[RebeldeFaith 5,752]

WTF?!

[ThisGuyTony 34,865]

I can't with this.  

[RAMROD 117,023]

Ew! How can this thing passed as law?? 

Wonder if this also affective for people visiting the state as well or just the locals?

[Artpoop 279]

My state is just 

[pie-kun 1,765]

This headline is inaccurate

http://www.snopes.com/oklahoma-police-erad-civil-forfeitures/

They cannot take anything from your bank account. What they can take is money from prepaid debit cards or gift cards. By definition, those types of cards are NOT connected to any types bank accounts and can only be charged the limited amount that has been put on them.

I swear the amount of false and inaccurate things that get posted here