Naperville passes ordinance fining owners of vehicles involved in fleeing from police

The Naperville City Council unanimously approved an ordinance implementing a $900 fine in administrative fees for car owners whose vehicles are involved in fleeing from police officers within city limits.

The ordinance is not designed to prevent incidents from occurring, Police Chief Jason Arres said at Tuesday's city council meeting. He said it's an attempt to recover the rising costs associated with investigating cases of fleeing vehicles.

Arres said labor costs were manageable several years ago when the city averaged one or two cases a month. But, according to statistics provided by the police department, there were 68 cases through the first six months of this year compared to 101 in all of 2021.

The ordinance goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

"If you take the hours and add them up to the additional work for the criminal investigation as well as the administrative investigation," Arres said, "we're calculating it to be almost a full-time employee's worth of work."

Because of safety issues with police chases, Arres said, the city years ago adopted a common law enforcement policy of not pursuing vehicles unless a forcible felony, such as murder or sexual assault, were involved. Public knowledge of that policy has emboldened drivers to flee, even in instances of minor traffic offenses, police officials said.

The city experienced 15 to 25 fleeing cases from 2016 to 2019 before the number nearly doubled in 2020.

Under the new ordinance, vehicle owners will be notified in writing they've been assessed the fine. Arres said if the owner submits an affidavit stating someone else was driving the car, the fine could be transferred.

While investigating fleeing vehicles, Arres said, resources are needed to review video, prepare police reports, and conduct interviews and internal reviews. The investigations often don't lead to arrests due to the inability to identify drivers, he said.

Arres told council members that most fleeing cases are misdemeanors but could be raised to felonies depending on the circumstance. He said fleeing cases rarely involve stolen vehicles.

"That's why those conversations with our kids and our family members and others are so important about consequences for behavioral choices," Arres said. "It puts the entire community in danger when (a fleeing incident) happens."