Add Oklahoma to the List of States Not to Visit

2016-06-10 elrichiboy Law Enforcement 4 comments

If you’re driving in Oklahoma, and you see the flashing lights in your mirror, you might end up homeless, according to this story.

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 seize everything you have from debit cards to bank accounts on a traffic stop without any criminal charges being filed. If some policeman thinks you’re doing something illegal, your life is over. Without money, you cannot hire a lawyer and they can just rob everything you have on a whim.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has introduced a device called Electronic Recovery and Access to Data (ERAM) that allows police officers to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards. State police began using 16 of these machines last month, and now the police have become literal highway robbers. This makes the traffic cops in Russia, who you can bribe to go away if they pull you over for a speeding ticket, 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 any sort of crime. He can now scan any cards you have and seize the money in your wallet. He does not have to charge you with a crime. There is no right to remain silent, for he is not charging you. He is after all your money because the governments is broke.

Supposedly the fascists lost World War Two, but I’m not so sure.

4 comments

Haiduc says:

2016-06-10 at 15:00

Ever been pulled over driving in Mexico??

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1. elrichiboy says:
  
  2016-06-10 at 16:15
  
  One time, a friend of mine and I were on Mariscal, close to Fred’s, and the cops stopped us because my friend was drinking a beer on the street. We negotiated a settlement of $10 (this was obviously the old days), and, to my horror, I discovered that I only had a fifty dollar bill. I pulled it out fearing the worst, but the cop reached into his own pocket and pulled out a fat wad, and gave me change.
  
  Reply
Helen Marshall says:

2016-06-12 at 12:40

There is considerable confusion about this story, and very little detail. Much more information is needed. Take a look at the comments on the link.

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1. elrichiboy says:
  
  2016-06-12 at 17:08
  
  Here’s a more authoritative voice on the ERAD scanners, from Boing Boing:
  
  The vehicle-mounted scanners can read and store some data from other cards, too: debit cards, credit cards, and “payment account information from virtually any magnetic stripe card,” according to ERAD’s website and patent documents.
  
  But the scanners can only retrieve funds from “open loop” prepaid debit cards (Visa and American Express offer them, as do other providers). Any “debit cards attached to a valid checking account or valid credit cards cannot be processed” to freeze and seize by an ERAD (Electronic Recovery and Access to Data) system.
  
  In other words, this is not a magical device with which cops can empty your bank account if they decide you’re a drug dealer. Could they empty a prepaid debit card you’re carrying at the time of a traffic stop, if they say you’re a drug dealer? Well, yeah, that’s the idea.
  
  So it’s not the alarmist “They’re cleaning out my bank account” refrain we heard from the other website. It’s just that pre-paid card your mom gave you for Christmas.
  
  Sorry for misleading you, gentle readers.
  
  Reply

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