Oklahoma
Policing for Profit
Oklahoma earns a D- for its civil forfeiture laws
Low bar to forfeit and no conviction required
Poor protections for innocent third-party property owners
As much as 100% of forfeiture proceeds go to law enforcement
State Forfeiture Laws
Oklahoma’s civil forfeiture laws are in dire need of reform. Earning a D-, Oklahoma state law only requires the government to prove a property’s connection to a crime by a preponderance of the evidence in order to forfeit it. Individuals wishing to bring an innocent owner claim bear the burden of proving that they had nothing to do with the illegal use of their property. Oklahoma law enforcement agencies also get to keep up to 100 percent of the spoils of forfeiture.
Law enforcement agencies in the Sooner State are only required to maintain an inventory of seized and forfeited property, providing little to no transparency. However, the Institute for Justice submitted an Oklahoma Open Records Act request to the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council and obtained the judicial district fund accounting of cash forfeitures and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property for fiscal years 2000 to 2014. These data indicate that Oklahoma law enforcement agencies forfeited nearly $99 million during this period, the vast majority of which—72 percent—derived from cash forfeitures.
State Law Sources
| Standard of proof | Preponderance of the evidence. Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 2-503(B)–(C). |
| Innocent owner burden | Owner. Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 2-503(A)(4)(b), (A)(7); State ex rel. Campbell v. $18,235, 184 P.3d 1078, 1081 (Okla. 2008). |
| Profit incentive | Up to 100 percent. Okla. Stat. tit. 63, §§ 2-503(F)(2), 2-506(L), 2-508. |
| Reporting requirements | Agencies must maintain an inventory of seized and forfeited property. Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 2-503(G). |
Oklahoma ranks 18th for federal forfeiture, with over $59 million in Department of Justice equitable sharing proceeds from 2000 to 2013.
State Forfeiture Data: Reported Forfeiture Proceeds
| Year | Currency | Non-Currency | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $3,428,322 | $932,007 | $4,360,329 |
| 2001 | $3,807,605 | $1,287,544 | $5,095,149 |
| 2002 | $3,924,541 | $1,109,558 | $5,034,099 |
| 2003 | $6,520,748 | $1,836,377 | $8,357,125 |
| 2004 | $5,887,904 | $3,151,573 | $9,039,477 |
| 2005 | $5,236,443 | $2,628,347 | $7,864,790 |
| 2006 | $5,378,123 | $2,508,176 | $7,886,299 |
| 2007 | $5,648,549 | $2,406,032 | $8,054,581 |
| 2008 | $6,131,372 | $1,775,205 | $7,906,577 |
| 2009 | $4,229,714 | $1,345,651 | $5,575,365 |
| 2010 | $5,746,450 | $1,217,681 | $6,964,130 |
| 2011 | $4,337,087 | $1,910,194 | $6,247,282 |
| 2012 | $3,028,379 | $1,281,709 | $4,310,089 |
| 2013 | $4,330,733 | $2,249,982 | $6,580,715 |
| 2014 | $4,114,801 | $1,595,682 | $5,710,483 |
| Total | $71,750,771 | $27,235,719 | $98,986,490 |
| Average per year | $4,783,385 | $1,815,715 | $6,599,099 |
Federal Equitable Sharing
Oklahoma law enforcement agencies’ participation in the Department of Justice’s equitable sharing program earns the state 18th place in the national rankings. Between the 2000 and 2013 calendar years, agencies received more than $59 million in DOJ equitable sharing proceeds. While just 28 percent of assets seized through the program resulted from adoptions—the type of equitable sharing severely limited by former Attorney General Holder—these accounted for almost three-quarters of Oklahoma agencies’ equitable sharing proceeds received. Data indicate that the average value of an adopted asset was approximately $134,000—more than six times the average value of an asset seized through a joint task force or investigation. It is possible that Oklahoma agencies requested federal adoptions primarily for high-dollar cases that would have been more complicated to process at the state or local level. Law enforcement agencies also received over $2.7 million in Treasury Department equitable sharing proceeds between fiscal years 2000 and 2013.
| Year | DOJ (calendar years) | Treasury (fiscal years) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $1,149,992 | $45,000 |
| 2001 | $893,449 | $0 |
| 2002 | $6,551,075 | $8,000 |
| 2003 | $7,515,027 | $6,000 |
| 2004 | $4,256,057 | $179,000 |
| 2005 | $7,414,118 | $142,000 |
| 2006 | $6,875,791 | $21,000 |
| 2007 | $5,175,668 | $5,000 |
| 2008 | $2,667,450 | $63,000 |
| 2009 | $5,265,364 | $249,000 |
| 2010 | $3,821,659 | $114,000 |
| 2011 | $3,281,106 | $739,000 |
| 2012 | $2,302,774 | $1,000,000 |
| 2013 | $2,006,956 | $155,000 |
| Total | $59,176,486 | $2,726,000 |
| Average Per Year | $4,226,892 | $194,714 |