Anchorage Assembly to consider removing or revising scofflaw program

The Anchorage Assembly is considering removing or revising the current scofflaw statute, which gives police authority to impound vehicles driven by people with more than $1,000 worth of specific driving or equipment citations.

The program has been under scrutiny for years as some officials say it misses the intended mark of improving public safety, and instead disproportionately punishes drivers who are unable to pay fines.

Assembly member Felix Rivera introduced an ordinance in June that would repeal the program entirely. The Bronson administration introduced an alternate version a few weeks later that would instead alter certain aspects of program.

The Anchorage Police Department is strongly against removing the scofflaw program, Chief Michael Kerle said during an Assembly work session this month. He said he believes it takes dangerous drivers off the streets. The police department instead supports the proposal put forth by the Bronson administration.

Rivera on Friday said he intends to introduce a third version of the ordinance that he said will improve on the one brought forth by the administration.

Municipal Ombudsman Darrel Hess has been raising concerns about the program for years, but the discussion was postponed because of the pandemic.

“One day you owe $1,500 in unpaid fines — you’re the worst of the worst, we have to get you off the streets, you’re gonna kill somebody,” Hess said during this month’s work session. “You write a check the next day — you’re good to go. There’s no probationary license, there’s no required driver’s training. From one day to the next you simply pay money and you’re suddenly a good driver. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around that.”

Hess said the most concerning part of the current program is the impact to people not on the scofflaw list. Any vehicle driven by someone on the list can be impounded, regardless of whether they are the owner.

Data compiled by the municipal attorney’s office showed that from 2011 to 2019, anywhere from 56% to 79% of the vehicles impounded belonged to someone other than the scofflaw who was driving them.

In those situations, the owners have to pay a $410 administrative fee, plus towing and storage fees. From 2015 until 2019, that meant that 286 vehicles that were registered to someone other than the scofflaw were never retrieved from impound and were therefore auctioned off, Hess said.

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Hess said those affected included a grandmother with a fixed income who loaned her car to her grandson and was unaware he was on the list, and a business owner who did not know his employee was on the list because his driving record showed no infractions during the last five years, but was on the scofflaw list due to older outstanding fines.

Some Assembly members have taken issue with the type of infractions that can place drivers on the list because they said paperwork or equipment violations do not mean someone is driving dangerously.

The fines for many infractions have also increased since the scofflaw was put into place in 2007.

The Bronson administration’s version of the ordinance would increase the fine amount to $2,500, and would change the type of tickets needed to make the list — paperwork or equipment violations would no longer count toward scofflaw status.

The police department supports the administration’s version of the ordinance, spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in an email.

“We believe that repealing the law in its entirety will lead to an increase in serious injury/fatal collisions,” she wrote.

During the work session, Kerle said many of the people on the list are dangerous drivers who have repeatedly ignored the consequences for their actions. The average person on the list has seven to eight citations, he said. The number of citations per offender ranges widely, though, from one offense up to nearly 60.

Nearly 14% of drivers in serious or fatal collisions during 2021 and 2022 were on the scofflaw list, Kerle said.

Rivera said he still supports and will continue to advocate for a full repeal of the program, but said he is being politically realistic by introducing an alternate version that builds upon the administration’s ordinance by addressing the problems with seizing vehicles owned by someone other than the person on the scofflaw list.

He said he believes the program is fundamentally flawed and said there is no proof it is making the city safer.

“The police department hasn’t been able to prove that (the program takes dangerous drivers off the road), but they’ve proven the program doesn’t work. And they’ve proven it by putting out numbers like, there are 9,000 people on the list — that looks awful, our program isn’t working, the list just keeps growing,” Rivera said. “And to the fact that ... 13.5% of all serious accidents in 2021 and 2022 were caused by folks who are on the scofflaw list, if this program was working, that number should be at zero or as close to zero as possible.”

Rivera said he hopes to have the alternate version of the ordinance finished by Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, but if not, he will request the vote be postponed.