City Moving to Enact Reckless Driving Towing Plan

The City of Milwaukee tow lot. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

The City of Milwaukee is gearing up to tow the vehicles of every reckless driver it cites.

But the necessary state law change to enable the towing has yet to be enacted. Despite approving the bill Oct. 14, the Wisconsin State Legislature has not presented it to Gov. Tony Evers for his signature. Milwaukee officials are already a week past their own press conference to celebrate the passage.

A delay at the state level could delay Milwaukee’s implementation, particularly if the council isn’t able to approve its ordinance change at its Nov. 4 Common Council meeting.

“Currently, what we have right now is an ordinance with two glaring loopholes,” Alderman Lamont Westmoreland told the Public Safety & Health Committee Thursday. The alderman has waited two years to close the loopholes: the requirements that the driver own the vehicle and have an unpaid reckless driving citation

The pending state law change would allow the city to tow and impound any vehicle cited for reckless driving, regardless of vehicle ownership or past history.

“Year to date, we have issued 457 reckless driving citations,” said Assistant Chief Craig Sarnow. “Had this been in effect at the beginning of the year, that would be 457 cars we would have had to tow.”

The committee unanimously passed the city’s side of the law change Thursday, but was told it might need to wait before the full Common Council can approve it. The council is next scheduled to meet Nov. 4 and meets again Nov. 7 to adopt the city budget.

“We are still waiting to hear from the governor on a signing date,” said Justin Moralez, the council’s senior government relations manager.

A spokesperson for the governor told Urban Milwaukee that the legislation, Assembly Bill 78, has yet to be presented to the governor. Once it is, the governor has six days, excluding Sundays and holidays, to take action on it. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether Evers would request the bill be presented.

Council members and the Milwaukee Police Department say they are ready to act.

“We want to tow the offenders, because that’s how you get them off the streets, this is a tool to tow their vehicles,” said Ald. Scott Spiker.

“This is a tool that allows us to take the weapon out of their hands and impound their vehicle,” said Sarnow. A directive from Chief Jeffrey Norman, said Sarnow, would immediately put the ordinance change into practice without the need to wait for standard operating procedures to be updated.

“This is a real bill that has real consequences and will make a real difference in our community,” said Ald. Peter Burgelis.

Parking Services Manager Peter Knox said the city’s tow lot has the capacity to store the vehicles. He also expects most vehicles will be retrieved by their owners. “The majority of the people are trying to retrieve the vehicle if it’s a working vehicle,” he said. But it could be costly for those towed.

Redeeming a vehicle requires the owner to pay $150 for the tow, a $25 per day storage fee, $50 if it is uninsured, plus proof of insurance, and any outstanding citations related to the towing. Knox said data indicate more than 80 percent of those cited for reckless driving don’t have insurance.

The city, under the pending state statute, is required to hold onto the vehicles for a minimum of 90 days. For other tows, the city currently has a 15-day waiting period to scrap the vehicle or a 30-day waiting period to sell it.

There are protections for victims of theft. All fees are waived for vehicles that are reported stolen. “People keep talking about ‘this is going to hurt people that get their vehicle stolen.’ It is not,” Westmoreland said.

Westmoreland, who has led the push for the law change, isn’t satisfied with one provision that was added to garner support from Senate Democrats: officer discretion on towing. “For the record, the at-discretion-of-the-officer thing was not something I was in favor of … too loose for me,” said Westmoreland. “I’m not done with this issue. We’re not done with this issue.”

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