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Proposal To Impound Cars Of Uninsured Drivers Introduced At Council; Vote Next Week

EL PASO, Texas — City Council will discuss and vote next week on a proposal that would allow city police the authority to impound your car if you don’t show proof of insurance.

The item was introduced at City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, but there was no discussion on it. El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, who is a main proponent of the measure, was not at the meeting.

Instead, Assistant Chief Eric Shelton attended the meeting. He said the department issued 51,000 citations last year for no insurance in El Paso. Currently, only citations are issued for the offense.

Shelton said the department probably doesn’t have the manpower to impound the cars of all drivers who are stopped and don’t have insurance.

“Our policy is going to be very limited and probably restrict it to mainly accident investigations and that is because we did cite over 4,000 people last year involved in accidents that has no insurance.”

City officials in Las Cruces are already asking that a similar ordinance be considered there the first week of April.

The proposed ordinance was introduced to Las Cruces City Council on Monday. A Las Cruces police officer would be given the authority to impound a vehicle if the driver has no proof of insurance or no driver’s license.

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