Give me your gift cards

Spending other people’s money has become the public sector’s national pastime. And that often entails crafting creative ways to ensure a steady stream of other people’s money flowing into the treasury.

In the immortal words of George Harrison, “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street; If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat; If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat; If you try to walk, I’ll tax your feet.”

Police agencies don’t have taxing power, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune from shaking down taxpayers. And now the cops in Oklahoma have outdone themselves on the money-grubbing front.

A report in Oklahoma Watch revealed last month that the state’s Department of Public Safety had purchased devices for state troopers and the Oklahoma City police that tell officers the value of any prepaid debit cards or gift cards in the vehicles they pull over.

That means the funds could more easily be subject to civil forfeiture.

“Oklahoma has become a battleground in the debate over civil asset forfeiture reform, “ The Huffington Post noted, “prompted by high-profile cases of cops using the practice to take cash and property from innocent people — often without charging them with a crime.”

It’s not uncommon in states with lax civil forfeiture laws for police to seize large sums of cash during traffic stops under the assumption that the money was somehow involved in the commission of a crime. In many states, including Nevada, the proceeds generated by forfeited assets may be used to pad police budgets.

Innocent owners face a long, cumbersome and expensive legal ordeal if they choose to fight a forfeiture action.

Critics suspect the Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machines are a convenient way for Oklahoma law enforcement officials to ramp up their forfeiture activities.

“If the police are willing to seize $1,000 worth of cash, I think they’re going to be just as likely to seize $1,000 that they find on a debit card,” said Matt Miller, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm in Arlington, Va., working to reform forfeiture laws.

But the story may have a happy ending. News of the technology generated widespread criticism — including from Oklahoma lawmakers — prompting public safety officials in June to put the data reading machines on ice, saying they would re-evaluate their use.

That’s good. But this fiasco highlights that without significant reform — such as requiring a criminal conviction before prosecutors may move to permanently take property from an individual — the indefensible abuses and excesses permitted under civil forfeiture will continue.