COLORADO SPRINGS — Police officers along the Front Range are cracking down on expired tags and unregistered vehicles this week.
It comes after Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said he received a surge of complaints from frustrated residents who keep their tags up to date and follow the law.
Vasquez said the fine goes from $15 to $100, depending on how long tags have expired.
He said Colorado Springs Police officers have written 175 citations so far this week and about 850 since May.
"I think it's a good idea, there's a lot of cars out here that have tags from two, three years ago, they need to be ticketed, I think if they don't have registration, they probably don't have any insurance either," said a Colorado Springs resident Randy.
Others told me this extra enforcement is a waste of time.
"I'm a single, full-time father and have a vehicle that I'm having trouble with the title right now, so it's unregistered but I have insurance, license, it's good to go but you know I run the risk when I drive it so I find it a bit confusing that that's something we're going to try to focus on," said Colorado Springs resident Johnny Gann.
News5 brought this issue to the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles earlier this summer. We found out the DMV charges late fees but relies on police to enforce expired or unregistered vehicles.
We had a lot of responses to the story, someone on Facebook commented, "Impound their vehicles!!!!!!" Another wrote, "A $500 ticket is still cheaper than registering my 2023 for $850 a year."
Chief Vasquez said police officers are getting overtime to specifically patrol for expired tags and unregistered vehicles this week.
"With our staffing issues, I've had to be really observant how about I prioritize what our officers are doing, even in the driving traffic realm, we were really prioritizing dangerous driving habits but I wanted to make sure to let the citizens know that we are listening to you and this is what this week is about," said Vasquez.
Those I spoke with say they have seen a lot of expired tags on the roads.
"I don't think it's a good idea for people to get away with doing this, you see brand new Mercedes with expired tags, they can't afford to get the tags, they shouldn't be driving the car," said Randy.
"I think there's bigger fish to fry, there's bigger problems to worry about in the city than an expired plate," said
Chief Vasquez said Colorado Springs police could continue this crackdown after Sept 28th depending on how effective this initiative is to get more people registered.
Several Front Range law enforcement agencies and state patrol are partnering together to target expired vehicle registration and unregistered vehicle violations.
Participating agencies include:
- Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD)
- Denver Police Department
- Aurora Police Department
- Colorado State Patrol
- Monument Police Department
- El Paso County Sheriff's Office
- Fountain Police Department
- Pueblo Police Department
Each of the previous agencies says that they've heard from concerned citizens about an increase in the number of cars with expired or no registration on the roads.
Colorado Springs police hold presser regarding effort to target expired vehicle registration
To avoid being fined by one of these officers, CSPD is advising community members to check on the status of their car registration at the Colorado DMV website.
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