MILWAUKEE — For most drivers, the flashing lights in your rearview mirror are incentive enough to stay on the right side of the law.
Then there are people who don't quite get the message.
In the city of Milwaukee, Montel Brown is among the latter.
In the last decade, Milwaukee Police have written Brown a ticket 115 times, making him the Number One repeat offender in the city.
Among Brown's dozens of citations are multiple counts of speeding, running red lights and driving without plates.
Then there's driving without a license.
MPD ticketed Brown for that 37 times in the last ten years, 16 of those in 2018 alone.
Former Milwaukee municipal court Judge Derek Mosley explained the penalty for that is nothing more than a fine, even for a repeat offender.
The solution is for police to tow away the illegal driver's car.
"You get picked up and you're driving without a license, that car needs to be towed from that location and you call someone to come get you," Mosley said.
In the city of Milwaukee that does not happen.
Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said unlicensed drivers are not towed.
They are let go on the honor system.
"They are expected to get a licensed driver or some other means to remove their vehicle like a tow truck if they don't have the ability to drive the vehicle themselves," Chief Norman said.
There is no city ordinance or state law that tells MPD not to tow.
That is just a choice.
For comparison, the Wisconsin State Patrol will tow a car, if the unlicensed driver can't make other arrangements.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff tows every car where the driver does not have a license.
Which means Milwaukee Police make it possible for illegal drivers to keep driving in the same car.
A prime example of this occurred on January 10, 2018.
That's the day Montel Brown was pulled over without a license twice.
Police stopped Brown for speeding at 11:36 A.M. near the intersection of North Fond du Lac and West Armitage avenues.
He was stopped again for speeding at 9:06 P.M. near Fond du Lac and West Ely Place.
Both times, he was driving the same car.
Even that day did not stop Brown from driving.
Since then, he's been caught without a license 18 more times.
Chief Norman defended his department's decision not to tow the vehicles of drivers without a valid license.
"There's always consequences; is those consequences impactful enough for that person to say 'I need to stop this behavior?'" Norman said.
The consequence for Brown: dozens of tickets and $12,000 in fines — he has never paid.
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