Following the lead of Kankakee and Aurora, the Cicero Town Board on Tuesday passed an ordinance to allow police to confiscate vehicles with excessively loud stereos.
Currently, a driver can be fined $50 under state law when a stereo in his or her car can be heard more than 75 feet away. Under the new measure, Cicero police also will seize and impound the vehicle of that driver.
To retrieve the vehicle, the owner will have to post a $250 bond, which would be forfeited if the driver is convicted of the offense, and pay a $125 towing fee plus $10 for every day the car is stored, said Cicero spokeswoman Chris Alcorn. Those payments will come on top of the $50 fine.
The measure also will apply to cars that have tinted windshields or tinted front passenger windows, also a violation of state law.
With passage of the new measure, Cicero in the past two weeks has dramatically extended the list of infractions under which cars can be seized and impounded.
On March 26, the Town Board passed an ordinance allowing police to confiscate the vehicles of minor drivers arrested for curfew violations. That measure is aimed at gang members who cruise the streets late at night.
Curfew in Cicero runs from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights and 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights. The maximum fine is $500.
To enforce the impoundment fee for curfew violations, police must show that the car’s owner knew that the minor was driving it. Minors going to or from work, school or a church-sponsored activity are not subject to the law.
Alcorn said the town also is drafting an ordinance that would allow police to seize and impound the vehicles of drivers who “cruise” a neighborhood.
