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.
Ain't it just bloody wonderful?
And hey, Lt. Vincent:
"If
you can prove can prove that you have a legitimate reason to have that
money it will be given back to you. And we've done that in the past,"
Vincent said about any money seized.
Since when the HELL are we supposed to have to PROVE something like that to get our property back? 4th Amendment? Constitution? Any of that ring a bell, or have you forgotten about it?
3 comments:
Time to Lock and Load!!!!
skybill
Alright, this isn't a TOTAL mess, although God knows it's pushing it.
Evidently all the ERAD can do is tap out prepaid debit cards, not standard ATM/debit or credit cards (though expect to see that coming soon).
It's still an atrocity, and Lt. Vincent's 'Oh if you can prove it's legit we'll give it back! Totes promise!' makes me want to hit him with a cinder block.
I think I might start suggesting to my credit union to institute stronger security on their cards. If law enforcement shows up with a warrant, fine, but I'll be damned if I'm letting them commit highway robbery with a cutesy little card reader.
The "War on Drugs!" has cost hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars over the last 45 years.
Net result? Drugs are more plentiful, cheaper and in many cases, stronger.
A thinking person *might* say that this is failed policy that only leads to corruption and rights abuses. What do elected and judicial dimwits do?
DOUBLE DOWN, FULL SPEED AHEAD!
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