Dennis F. Dwyer is a seasoned Chicago criminal defense attorney committed to protecting the rights of his clients. His extensive experience with DUI law allows him to provide his clients with the best DUI representation in Cook County.
Municipalities in the Chicagoland area have been hit by this recession hard. Most are finding creative ways to bring in revenue. One of those ways is to pass ordinances allowing police officers to tow cars and charge administrative fees to people arrested for traffic offenses such as DUI, driving on a suspended or revoked license, or driving without a license.
These fees can be as high as $1,200. A lot of times, the person who is arrested for a DUI or driving without a license or a suspended or revoked license is not the actual car owner. In this case the innocent owner, who did not commit any criminal or traffic offense if left paying the bill. Is this fair? See the attached article: http:
Of course you are entitled to a hearing, but your hearing will be before an administrative hearing officer who works for the village, and has an incentive to find against the owner because they are under orders to bring in money for the municipality.
Another egregious way in which these municipalities are making money is by pulling over undocumented immigrants and arresting them for driving without a license. Often times the police will sit outside of places where it is known that undocumented immigrants work and pull them over after they leave work.
Say what you want about our country’s immigration policy, but something seems wrong with the idea of having people do all of the work that no other Americans want to do, selling them cars, allowing them to purchase insurance policies that everyone knows will never actually pay out on any claims because the person has no license, and allowing them to purchase license plates and registration for the car, and then intentionally pulling them over to get a $1,200 administrative fee for the municipality. This is not fair and it is not right.
