Supervisors Put a Hold on Reckless Driving Ordinance

A tow truck hauls away a vehicle on N. Milwaukee St. in 2019. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is going to wait until after the upcoming spring election to consider an ordinance that would allow the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) to tow reckless drivers’ vehicles.

A resolution authored by Sup. Willie Johnson, Jr. would give the MCSO and other law enforcement agencies the authority to impound vehicles and charge the drivers fees for towing and storage when they are caught driving recklessly. The county would return stolen vehicles impounded under this ordinance to their owners free of charge.

Stolen and unclaimed vehicles could be disposed of after 60 days. Other vehicles could be disposed of after 90 days if the owner that drove it recklessly does not pay the fees. Disposal includes either scrapping or selling the vehicle.

“Citizens have been very concerned about reckless driving, the fact that vehicles go off the road into ditches, cause accidents, cause injuries, and sometimes fatalities, that this is something that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible,” Johnson, Jr. told his colleagues.

The ordinance mirrors a rule the City of Milwaukee Common Council enacted last year. After the city secured a necessary change in state law, the city passed an ordinance allowing the Milwaukee Police Department to impound any vehicle caught being driven recklessly.

MCSO Chief Deputy Brian Barkow said the new ordinance would help the agency crack down on dangerous “street takeovers.”

The new county ordinance was recommended for approval by the board’s Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services earlier this month. Sup. Justin Bielinski opposed the ordinance, expressing concern that it would lead to impounding cars or towing fees for victims of car theft, despite the language in the ordinance.

During the board meeting Thursday, Sup. Anne O’Connor moved to have the ordinance sent back to the board’s Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. It was scheduled to appear before the committee on March 16, but the meeting was cancelled due to a blizzard.

Sup. Shawn Rolland questioned moving it back to committee, saying the ordinance language already addresses the issue of stolen vehicles. “Because my understanding, in looking at the ordinance change language, is that Milwaukee County would return a vehicle to any owner who had reported a car stolen for no fee… So the stolen car piece of the puzzle seems to be addressed with the language that’s in the ordinance,” he said.

Sup. Sky Capriolo argued the issue of reckless driving in Milwaukee is not primarily driven by auto-theft.

“Because we’ve lived here for four years… the first two and a half years we lived here, my family got hit three times, and they weren’t by people in stolen cars,” she said. “They were by people who thought they had a more important reason to get to where they were going than we did. I rarely make a trip in Milwaukee County where I don’t see someone run a red light.”

Responding to her colleagues, O’Connor said she understood the ordinance included language protecting victims of auto theft from fines. “But in practice, I was trying to get more information on what that really looks like, based on where this has already been enacted,” she said.

The board voted 9-8 to send the resolution back to committee. Supervisors Capriolo, Jack Eckblad, Johnson, Jr., Felesia Martin, Rolland, Steve Taylor, Kathleen Vincent and Sheldon Wasserman voted against the move.

The board will not be able to vote on the ordinance again until May, as the body does not meet in April because of the spring election cycle.

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