Initiating vehicle impound

The scenario plays out something like this.

You head out the door for some errand. Maybe you're rushing. Maybe you've got both kids in tow. You hop in the car and head to the store, a friend's house, the bar where you left your license last night… Then you get stopped for a taillight that's out or not using a turn signal, and the police officer asks to see your ID. And you don't have it.

A ballot initiative that passed in August 2008 made it legal for a police officer in Denver to impound a vehicle if the driver could not produce a valid Colorado driver's license. This year, the author of that initiative, Daniel Hayes, who also personally paid for petitioners to collect the signatures necessary to get the initiative on the ballot, has put forward Ballot Initiative 300 on Motor Vehicle Impoundment. If passed, the initiative would require Denver police to impound a vehicle if the driver does not have a Colorado driver's license on hand or does not have a record of a driver's license and have valid identification on hand.

"If you forget your license at home, you would need three forms of ID, proof of insurance, a record of a driver's license, and then ‘convincing, corroborating identification'—that's not defined in the text of that law or in any other law in the state of Colorado," said Jessie Ulibarri, state director of Vote No on Initiative 300. "In the instance that you run to the gym to work out, and you forget your driver's license but have your gym card or student ID, there's no proof that would qualify as an ID."

The law asks for verifiable ID, he said, "and that often means a passport, and most people don't drive with a passport in the glove box."

Opponents argue the initiative is costly and inconveniences cops and drivers. Proponents say it will make streets safer and raise city revenue.

While the language isn't specific about identification, Ulibarri said the language is clear in terms of who Hayes was looking to impact.

"It has huge implications for every driver, but it does unfairly target one part of the community," he said. Based on the text of the initiative itself, he said, "You could have your car impounded if you are suspected of being an illegal alien."

How that suspicion would be determined was not clarified.

And getting a car out of impound, he said, costs at least $2,700, plus any daily impound fees and towing costs.

Rob DuRay, field director for New Era Colorado, has been working on the Auraria campus registering voters and educating them on ballot issues. He knows a bit about how students roll.

"I've seen that they have their license on them far less, they're far more likely to forget it at home, and most importantly, they're less likely to have $2,700 in bonds and fees," he said. "Most [young] people I know don't make that in a month."

In his registration campaign, which registered between 200 and 300 voters on campus, he said he was unable to register between 50 and 100 students because they didn't have their license with them.

As he's been working on educating voters at the Auraria campus, he said almost everyone he's talked to is against the initiative when they're told what it could do.

According to Ulibarri, two hours is the average length of time required to impound a vehicle, and, he said, "What else is going to happen in those two hours that they could be responding to?

"A lot of the discretion is being taken away from the police officer in really forcing their hand to wait to impound and tow vehicles rather than looking at the other broader implication of protecting the city and public safety," he said.

The Colorado Association of the Chiefs of Police and County Sheriffs of Colorado adopted a statement on Aug. 20 that strongly opposed the initiative, pointing out that officers can impound vehicles at their discretion now. "It is unsafe and bad public policy to force law enforcement to wait for tow trucks, fill out paperwork, inventory the vehicle and its contents, and potentially neglect other responsibilities which may be more important in protecting the public," the statement said.

Of 13 city council members, Ulibarri said, 12 have spoken out in opposition to the initiative—as has Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Carolyn Siegel, campaign director for Coloradans for Safe Communities, a coalition of individuals and organizations that oppose the initiative, said she's seen people and organizations of all kinds gather to join the coalition.

"I think what has brought so many people of so many backgrounds together is that this will have a negative impact on everybody in Denver," she said.

"Both the city and the state are in budget crunches and this will be a drain of up to $2 million on the budget," she said. According to Siegel, the police department estimated an additional $1.6 million would be spent to cover the costs of towing and impounding vehicles. The other $400,000 would come from the city attorney in court-related costs.   

When Hayes talks about the scenario of a driver without the license on the road, it plays out something like this.

"Let's say you're driving along and all the sudden you get T-boned by an unlicensed driver—no insurance company will cover an unlicensed driver," he said. So if the person who hits you doesn't have the money to cover the costs of repairing or replacing your car, and attending to any injuries you or your passengers may have received, you'll have to pay for all of that yourself. That could send you into bankruptcy, he said.

"We don't want discretion when it comes to towing vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers," he added. He said of the 33,000 tickets given in Denver every year to unlicensed drivers, about half of them are American citizens who have lost their licenses. And the other half don't qualify for a license. "These are all people who have decided they don't need a license, and they're going to drive anyway."