Milwaukee City Wire

As of May 1, Milwaukee police have started seizing vehicles from drivers that engage in reckless driving. 

According to Fox 6 News, local residents have been bringing their concern on the increasing amount of reckless driving to city hall and the city leaders are listening. 

Twenty-four-year-old Dirul Chaplin is a Milwaukee driver that has a long list of infractions with local law enforcement. According to Fox 6 news, he's been pulled over by southeast Wisconsin authorities at least 35 times in the last three years including by Milwaukee police more than 21 times, Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies have pulled him over nine times and he's also got one stop in Glendale and Elm Grove.

In August 2021, Chaplin was pulled over by Milwaukee Police for running a red light near 4th and Maple, according to Fox 6 news. Rather than be apologetic, Chaplin asked the officer, "Why you all got to, like, I’m on a chase or something?" 

"I got to catch up to you, right?" the officer replied. 

"I can’t just give you my name and stuff, so I can hurry up the process? Cause I really got to go," Chaplin replied.

"You don’t have ID on you?" an officer asked during another stop. "No," Chaplin casually answers.

Fox 6 News reports that every time Chaplin's been stopped, he's had no license plates, registration, insurance or valid driver's license. His extensive list of traffic offenses in the last three years alone include 12 citations for speeding, three citations for running red lights, 10 citations for driving with a suspended or revoked license and other citations as well. Each time he's been pulled over, officers have inexplicably let him go on his way in his vehicle.

Last summer, Chaplin was pulled over for going 66 mph in a 30 mph zone and the officer told him, "You’ve got the worst driving record I’ve ever seen."

In response to the rise in reckless driving, Milwaukee police launched the Traffic Safety Unit (TSU) in March 2021. Officers are focused on traffic safety and wrote more than 15,400 speeding tickets within six months of the unit's creation, according to Fox 6 News.

City leaders have also authorized police to seize the vehicles of reckless drivers in situations where the vehicle isn't registered and the driver is engaging in reckless driving, speeding by 25 mph over or more, fleeing from officers or street racing.