The Aurora City Council has adopted new regulations designed to cut down on fleeing and eluding situations while having fewer police chases.
The ordinance allows the Aurora Police Department to charge the registered owner of a vehicle with fleeing and eluding a police officer in cases where police are unable to stop the driver of a vehicle.
The process would be a civil one through the local ordinance court held at the Aurora Police Department.
Nydia Molina, assistant corporation counsel for the city, said police still would need probable cause to stop a car.
“It would be like any other ticket,” she said.
In recent years, fleeing and eluding incidents have increased greatly within the city. In the past five years, the number of incidents increased from 73 incidents in 2018 to 126 incidents in 2023.
Molina has said that has resulted in more police time and resources responding to and investigating the incidents.
Police spend hours reviewing video, preparing police reports, conducting interviews and performing internal administrative reviews after such incidents, often with no arrests because police are unable to identify the driver.
She added that if police pursue the fleeing vehicles, it leads to “dangerous situations” on the streets.
With the new ordinance, police could read the license plates of a fleeing vehicle and find the registered owner, then issue a fine that would be adjudicated through the local ordinance court. A first offense would be $1,000, increasing by $1,000 for each subsequent offense.
Officials said they would want to pressure the owners to bring in whoever was driving the car.
The lone vote against the new ordinance was Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, who said the new ordinance could unfairly hold the car owner liable, even if the driver is found.
Mayor Richard Irvin said “from a practical standpoint,” if the driver is found, the city would not pursue prosecution against the car owner.
“If we find the actual driver, I can’t see it being worth it to do the extra paperwork” to go after the car owner, Aurora Police Officer Chris Arbet said.
In addition to Bugg’s no vote, Ald. John Laesch, at large, voted present.
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