Council passes resolution seeking state law change allowing MPD to impound vehicles for first reckless driving offense

The Common Council today approved legislation directing the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Division to seek the introduction and passage of state legislation expanding the circumstances under which vehicles used in reckless driving may be impounded.

The file (Council file #230557) — authored by Alderman Lamont Westmoreland – seeks a change in state law that would allow the Milwaukee Police Department to impound vehicles for a first reckless driving offense citation, regardless of a driver’s prior driving record or whether the driver is the owner of the vehicle (or whether the driver has prior forfeitures). Currently, in order for a vehicle to be impounded after a citation for reckless driving, the driver has to be the owner of the vehicle and hold a record of unpaid forfeitures from prior offenses.

Alderman Westmoreland said reducing reckless driving “means stopping reckless drivers before they harm others by removing the means by which they may do so.”

“In my view Milwaukee has been soft and lukewarm on addressing reckless driving for far too long, and I would like to see us move closer to zero tolerance on what is easily one of our top matters of public concern and safety,” Alderman Westmoreland said.

Today the Council took an important step in giving police the tool to remove recklessly driven vehicles from our streets, and I thank my colleagues for their support of this file,” the Alderman said.

Co-sponsors of file #230557 are Alderman José G. Pérez, Alderman Mark A. Borkowski, Alderman Mark Chambers, Jr., Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs and Alderman Scott Spiker.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.