Law enforcement in Oklahoma have a new tool that can seize money from bank accounts and prepaid cards without first proving someone committed a crime, without a warrant, and without an arrest, as long as authorities suspect that money is tied to a crime, reports KWTV and The Washington Post.
Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine (ERAD) machines have been installed in more than a dozen Oklahoma Highway Patrol squad cars, and have been in use for about a month.
If authorities suspect money is tied to some type of a crime, all they have to do is scan any credit or prepaid cards that a driver has on them, and the money is instantly seized, KWTV says.
A state senator Kyle Loveless, says the practice removes due process and presumes guilt before innocence.
Loveless says he plans to introduce a measure that will require a conviction before assets can be seized.
