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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 some way that we can prove that you're falsifying information to us about your business."
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News 9 obtained a copy of the contract with the state.
It shows the state is paying ERAD Group Inc., $5,000 for the software and scanners, then 7.7 percent of all the cash the highway patrol seizes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dltaylor on Thursday June 09 2016, @04:58AM
Oklahoma is now off my travel list on my cross-country rides/drives, and I don't even have a prepaid card, or carry any banking info when I travel, other than a CC with no ties to a bank with money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2016, @05:57AM
As long as you wrap the CC in tin foil and play static on the radio, you should be safe even in OK.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2016, @06:29AM
Make sure it's a credit card, not a debit card, and tin foil, not aluminium foil.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2016, @09:44PM
Don't just avoid it, people ought to write to the Oklahoma state governor, the tourism board and such and let them know that reasons like this will cause you to not consider vacationing in their state or doing any business in there. It's when you don't make a fuss that they assume that nobody cares and point to the lack of fuss as proof.