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15 Feb ’12
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Well looks like I will never drive through that state. This will be overturned right?
OKLAHOMA CITY - You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture.
That's where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime.
Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards.
It's called an ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine, and state police began using 16 of them last month.
Here's how it works. If a trooper suspects you may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan any cards you have and seize the money.
"We're gonna look for different factors in the way that you're acting,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. John Vincent said. “We're gonna look for if there's a difference in your story. If there's someway that we can prove that you're falsifying information to us about your business."
Troopers insist this isn't just about seizing cash.
3 Jun ’12
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Wow, just wow
15 Feb ’12
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must be because they have no money for school books
15 Feb ’12
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looks like people are pushing back
A few signs emerged this week that some out-of-state residents could suspend their travel to Oklahoma because of law enforcement agencies’ use of a device that seizes funds loaded on to prepaid debit cards.
As Oklahoma Watch first reported Tuesday, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and other agencies have portable card readers mounted on vehicles that can confiscate or freeze suspected drug-trafficking proceeds loaded on to prepaid cards.
The Electronic Recovery and Access to Data devices are on Oklahoma Highway Patrol vehicles and also are being used by a joint law enforcement drug interdiction team under the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office.
Two people contacted Oklahoma Watch or a state senator who has pushed changes in civil asset forfeiture laws sand said they would suspend travel to the state because of concern that funds on personal or business payment cards could be mistakenly seized by officers.
In a June 9 letter to Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, Derek Goldberg, principal with Florida-based Peak Power & Mfg., Inc., said his company and its affiliated companies had banned employees from traveling to Oklahoma.
Employees of Peak Power & Mfg., which designs, builds and installs automated manufacturing equipment, often travel across the country and carry personal and business banking cards.
“We simply cannot risk seizure of our employees’ and our company’s assets based upon the whims of an honorable, dedicated, and well-intentioned Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officer,” the letter states. “We look forward to the time when the state of Oklahoma discontinues this practice that we may remove our travel ban.”
15 Feb ’12
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and they have suspended it for now
Amid international controversy, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has put a temporary hold on using prepaid card readers to seize or freeze suspected drug-trade funds loaded on to prepaid cards.
DPS Capt. Paul Timmons said late Monday that use of the vehicle-mounted devices was being put on temporary hold until DPS Commissioner Michael Thompson can attend training on the card reader to get a better understanding of the device. Timmons said he does not know when the training will occur.
Earlier Monday at a news conference, Thompson said he wanted to re-evaluate use of the device but that there were no plans to stop using it.
"It's too good a tool" to cease using, he said. "I personally want to sit through this to get a clear understanding of how this works and get a good comfortable feel before we move forward."
19 Feb ’12
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 DPS Capt. Paul Timmons said late Monday that use of the vehicle-mounted devices was being put on temporary hold until DPS Commissioner Michael Thompson can attend training on the card reader to get a better understanding of the device. Â
It's not the device that people are worried about. It's the crooked department that is seeing dollar signs.
Â
"It's too good a tool" to cease using, he said.
Translation:Â There's too much money to made there to pass it up.
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