We have covered the disgusting topic of civil asset forfeiture numerous times (most recently here), but the latest move by Oklahoma police is quite simply shocking.
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.
The local police chief explains… "it's not about taking money…"
ArmstrongEconomics' Martin Armstrong rages...
The one state that has gone complete anti-democratic is Oklahoma. It is wise not to travel in that state at all. Oklahoma should be on a no fly zone. Now Oklahoma police can outright just seize everything you have from debit cards to bank accounts on a traffic stop without any criminal charges being filed – just some policeman “thinks” and your life is over. With no money, you cannot hire a lawyer so they can now just rob everything you have on a whim.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has introduced a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards, which they call ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine. State police began using 16 of theses last month and this is a state now where the police have become literally the highway robbers. This makes the traffic cops in Russia pulling you over for speeding and you just pay them and they go away as a far more civilized arrangement. Here, they can rob you of everything.Let’s say a state trooper “suspects” or just “thinks” you may have money tied to some type of crime – any crime. He can now scan any cards you have and seize the money in your wallet. He does not have to charge you with any crime. He just “thinks” you might be connected to anything he can imagine. There is no right to remain silent, for he is not charging you. He is after all your money because they are broke.
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.” So all he has to do is “believe” you lied about anything and he has the right to take everything you have. They justify this claiming it is not about seizing money. Of course not. It is criminal prosecution but there is no crime. Forget innocent until proven guilty. That will not apply. They pretend the money committed the crime – not you.
This is simply nullifying the Constitution. You have absolutely ZERO rights. He can rob you of everything and leave you with no money even for gas. The police have become the criminals. This is precisely how Rome fell. When they could not could not pay the army, they began sacking their own cities. This is exactly what the police are doing now and there is nobody to defend us against this new criminal organization.
Just stay out of Oklahoma at all costs. If other states follow, you better migrate to another country and fast. One not based on common law (English countries). This will destroy the freedom to even travel as broke police are nothing more than highway criminals with guns.
As long as the current system of civil asset forfeiture remains intact, new federal guidelines or policy are unlikely to be effective, said Steven L. Kessler, a New York attorney who has defended a number of clients in high-profile forfeiture cases. He believes clear legislative action is needed to keep the government from compromising people’s property rights in the hunt for money.
“When the government says they’re going to do that on their own, they’re going to make the change, everyone is very happy and we move on to the next story,” said Kessler. “Rarely does anything change, because we’re dealing with a guideline — we’re dealing with something that is within the full discretion of the government.”
There are some rumblings in Congress for a legal overhaul.
Last week, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors introduced a bill to rein in civil asset forfeiture. Among the most significant measures, the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act of 2016, or the DUE PROCESS Act, would shift the burden of proof from the property owner to the government, and raise the standard needed to validate a forfeiture. If passed, the new law would require the government to provide “clear and convincing” evidence that property was substantially connected to criminal activity — still below the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for criminal convictions.
This must pass!
And finally, as Liberty Blitzkrieg's Mike Krieger previously concluded:“
"The way you would expect the criminal justice system to work if you were reading your high school civics textbook is that you’d expect the government first to investigate people, then to obtain an indictment if they think something wrong has happened, and then to obtain a conviction and then finally to punish them… But in many cases that has happened exactly backwards.”
This is not what freedom looks like.
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