MILWAUKEE — It’s been four months since a Milwaukee ordinance went into effect that allows police to tow the vehicles of repeat reckless drivers.
As of last week, the Milwaukee Police Department says it has yet to tow a single vehicle under the policy.
It’s a time-consuming trip no driver wants to make. A Milwaukee man named Damera knows it’s also expensive.
“It cost me at least about $600,” he said.
Damera says his car was towed overnight to the city lot for unpaid parking tickets on an unregistered vehicle.
"It is hard, for people struggling, trying to get their cars back and they don't have the finances to get it back and every day the price goes up,” Damera said.
Back in May, the Milwaukee Police Department added a new reason to tow. If a reckless driver is pulled over and the officer discovers the driver has previously unpaid reckless driving tickets, their car is heading to the Milwaukee tow lot.
130 days later, MPD’s open records division says it’s resulted in zero tows.
"It sounds cute, but it's not enough,” said Alderman Lamont Westmoreland. "You have to be the owner of the vehicle for it to be impounded, you have to be a repeat offender. Those two things are loopholes."
Alderman Westmoreland says another loophole is the difficulty officers face trying to determine if a repeat reckless driver’s previous fines haven’t been paid.
Police tell TMJ4 that squad computers don’t show that information when they look up a person’s driving record.
Alderman Westmoreland is leading an effort to remove what he considers to be barriers to the ordinance. He authored a resolution that got unanimous support from the Common Council earlier this month. It calls on the Wisconsin Legislature to consider revising the state law.
“I’m going to keep pushing to the point where we're at zero tolerance,” Alderman Westmoreland said.
Alderman Westmoreland says zero tolerance means towing vehicles anytime a reckless driver is caught, no matter if they own the car or not.
"If somebody gets their vehicle impounded because they let somebody borrow that vehicle, the goal with that is hopefully that changes their mindset on who they're letting use their vehicle,” he said.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers who represent Milwaukee say they are in the early stages of drafting legislation to make that happen.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, they're taking too long,” Alderman Westmoreland said.
State Representative LaKeshia Myers says she’s in favor of stiffening the law.
"There is a point at which we have to do something and action is usually what changes behavior,” she said.
Rep. Myers wants the bill to define what’s considered reckless driving because it’s currently up to the discretion of law enforcement.
“What do you think should fit under that definition?” Jordan asked.
"Speeds of 30 miles per hour plus in whatever the listed zones are, weaving in and out of traffic, all of those things we've seen on public streets and roadways in recent years,” she said.
Back at Milwaukee’s tow lot, Damera thinks towing a reckless driver’s car on a first offense is too far.
"Now, if you've got a history of it, I can see you taking that car because that means they ain't learned their lesson,” he said. "You do got to teach them a lesson, but that's just like too much for the first time."
State Rep. Bob Donovan’s staff tells TMJ4 he plans to include the ability for police to boot vehicles of reckless drivers in addition to towing them. The bill is expected to be introduced in the coming months.
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