Law enforcement officials in Oklahoma are distraught about a bill to reform civil asset forfeiture.

Nick Wing
Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post

Posted: 11/13/2015 06:21 PM EST | Edited: 11/13/2015 06:24 PM EST

Oklahoma might be best known as a home to Sooners, Cowboys and country music fans, but a local prosecutor and police officer say the state will be welcoming violent drug cartels if a Republican lawmaker gets his way.

State Sen. Kyle Loveless has been trying to muster support this year for a bill that would reform a controversial law enforcement tool known as civil asset forfeiture. Using the practice, police and prosecutors in the state work together to permanently seize cash and property -- including cars, homes and businesses -- based on the suspicion that it's connected to criminal activity.

Proponents maintain that civil asset forfeiture is an important crime-fighting tool, often saying it lets them attack the profits of drug traffickers even when there's not a clear criminal link. But it gives authorities the power to take property without charging its owner with a crime, much less securing a conviction. In Oklahoma, the state isn't even required to provide definitive proof of the alleged criminal ties before taking control of the property, selling it and giving the money back to the departments involved in the case.

Loveless sees this as a fundamental violation of people's rights to due process and property and says the lax standards have gotten innocent people in Oklahoma caught in the civil asset forfeiture net. On Thursday, he sparred with Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler and Eric Dalgleish, a major at the Tulsa Police Department, over the merits of his bill to require a criminal conviction to permanently take someone's property.

Law enforcement officials in Oklahoma are distraught about a bill to reform civil asset forfeiture.

Nick Wing
Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post

Posted: 11/13/2015 06:21 PM EST | Edited: 11/13/2015 06:24 PM EST

Oklahoma might be best known as a home to Sooners, Cowboys and country music fans, but a local prosecutor and police officer say the state will be welcoming violent drug cartels if a Republican lawmaker gets his way.

State Sen. Kyle Loveless has been trying to muster support this year for a bill that would reform a controversial law enforcement tool known as civil asset forfeiture. Using the practice, police and prosecutors in the state work together to permanently seize cash and property -- including cars, homes and businesses -- based on the suspicion that it's connected to criminal activity.

Proponents maintain that civil asset forfeiture is an important crime-fighting tool, often saying it lets them attack the profits of drug traffickers even when there's not a clear criminal link. But it gives authorities the power to take property without charging its owner with a crime, much less securing a conviction. In Oklahoma, the state isn't even required to provide definitive proof of the alleged criminal ties before taking control of the property, selling it and giving the money back to the departments involved in the case.

Loveless sees this as a fundamental violation of people's rights to due process and property and says the lax standards have gotten innocent people in Oklahoma caught in the civil asset forfeiture net. On Thursday, he sparred with Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler and Eric Dalgleish, a major at the Tulsa Police Department, over the merits of his bill to require a criminal conviction to permanently take someone's property.