Connecticut Police Chiefs: Let Us Seize, Sell Cars Involved in Street Takeovers

HARTFORD, CT — New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson has a simple solution to the dangerous, unannounced, unruly masses of motor vehicle drivers and spectators that block traffic and threaten public safety: "No more cars, no more street takeovers."

That was his message to state lawmakers this week in pushing for legislation that would allow police to seize cars involved in street takeovers and sell them at auction.

"These street takeovers can happen in any town, any time of the day or night," Jacobson, speaking for the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association during a public hearing Tuesday before the legislative Public Safety & Security Committee. "They're extremely disruptive and dangerous to those on the road. These incidents have encountered mob mentality behavior from those participating in takeovers." Many of the drivers use different sets of license plates to avoid detection, he said.

While takeovers often involved hundreds of vehicles and drivers who outnumber law enforcement, Jacobson believes that seizing the vehicles, then selling them, would send an easy-to-understand consequence while giving towns and cities revenue to pay for the stepped-up enforcement.

"These investigations and the prosecution of these incidents are extremely difficult, since most, if not all of the participants are from different states and areas outside of Connecticut," Jacobson said. "The arrests we have made are from Mass, New Jersey and Connecticut. We need a penalty, which will stop these activities. There have been four shootings in New Haven related to street takeovers and we've seized three guns during arrests for street takeovers. They are setting fires in the street, throwing fireworks at police officers and jumping on police cars when the officers are outnumbered. They are taking over residential intersections as well as highway areas."

In recent months spectators were injured during a December street takeover in North Haven. Last month New Haven Police arrested a Milford woman who allegedly announced takeovers around the state on Instagram.

"When we do disband a street takeover there are hundreds of cars leaving at the same time," said Jacobson, stressing that regional efforts involved police from multiple towns and State Police, have been somewhat effective. "It takes drones, multiple officers, stop sticks, many other law enforcement efforts. We need penalties which make all these efforts worthwhile. We threw stop sticks one night and we probably stopped 50 car tires but we didn't have enough cops to make arrests, so those people drove home without tires and I think that kind of slowed them from picking New Haven as the areas because since that arrest night we haven't seen a lot of activity."

Jacobson said that in recent years, legislation allowing for the seizure of dirt bikes and ATVs has been an important tool. He said that some of the equipment has been returned to owners who have presented good cases in local hearings and investigations that they were not involved in the incidents that led to the seizures. "I'd say 30, 35 percent of the bikes we've given back because of those circumstances," he said, stressing that Hartford, unlike New Haven, has a local law to allow for the destruction of seized dirt bikes and ATVs.

Jacobson says New Haven has about five trailers holding seized equipment.

State Rep. Greg Howard of Stonington, a ranking Republican on the committee who is a police officer, agreed with Jacobson on the way to curb takeovers.

"When they crack down on enforcement, they saw the incidents go down," he said. "That makes perfect sense. If there's as lot of enforcement in New Haven on street takeovers, they're not going to do it there any more."

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