Buckhorn dusts off repealed vehicle impound law

When Bob Buckhorn was on the City Council in the late-1990s, he helped push through a series of get-tough laws targeting street-level prostitution, including one giving police officers the authority to impound vehicles of johns trying to pick up prostitutes.

That law was repealed by council last year, however, following court rulings determining that similar vehicle seizure laws in other Florida municipalities were illegal, because they didn't provide adequate notice to owners and lacked due process, among other issues.

Now, as mayor, Buckhorn is trying to resurrect that controversial law, armed with recent court rulings that his legal staff say have resolved language that rendered sections of the previous law unconstitutional. He has sent a proposed ordinance to the council, set for consideration on Thursday, that would put the impound law, with a few tweaks to address court rulings, back on the city's books.

"This was one of the most effective tools that the city had to fight street-level prostitution and was eventually copied by cities all over the country," Buckhorn said this week.

Thousands of vehicles were seized under the rule, which netted the police department an average of $400,000 a year, according to city estimates. The money was to buy new police equipment and fund training for officers.

City Attorney Jim Shimberg said recent rulings have clarified the concerns that prompted the city to repeal the previous law and said his staff has crafted a new ordinance that will provide increased notification and the ability to request a hearing to contest the seizure.

"We're comfortable this would comply with the constitutional requirements," he said.

The proposed ordinance, if approved by the council, would also give police officers the authority to impound cars and other vehicles used in street-level drug sales.

Those charged under the impound law would be required to pay a $500 penalty to get their vehicles out of a lot. Defendants would have the ability to challenge the impound charges before a county circuit court judge. If a court hearing isn't scheduled within five business days, the vehicle would be released to its owner, with no penalty charged.

City council members, most of whom hadn't been briefed by Buckhorn administration officials on the ordinance, were still mulling over the mayor's proposal this week.

"I have some concerns about it," said Councilman Frank Reddick, who represents Ybor City and East Tampa. "It seems like just another way for the city to generate revenue."

Buckhorn said the impound law uses "public shame" as a deterrent for street prostitution, similar to publishing in newspapers the names of men arrested for trying to pay for sex.

"You'll have to explain to your wife or boss why you lost your vehicle," he said.

As a councilman in 1997, Buckhorn proposed the vehicle impound law as part of an all-out assault on prostitution that included a package of law enforcement initiatives.

At the time, the council also approved a law giving the police the authority to revoke for up to a year the driver's licenses of men who solicit sex. The police also created a map of the neighborhoods where prostitution is most prevalent, and warned prostitutes who were arrested in these areas to stay out of them or be charged with trespassing.

Buckhorn contends the law took a huge bite out of street-level sex sales, particularly in plagued neighborhoods such as Old Seminole Heights, Southeast Seminole Heights and Ybor City.

"We sent a message loudly and clearly that yes there is a price to pay," he said.

Community activists say the law helped cleanse many neighborhoods of prostitution.

"It was like a war," recalls Jeff Harmon, former president of the Old Seminole Heights Civic Association, who, with his wife, organized patrols targeting prostitutes who trolled his neighborhood in search of clientele. "We needed tools like that. And it worked."

But the city stopped enforcing the law in 2003, following a 4th District Court of Appeal decision stemming from a lawsuit filed against city of Hollywood that challenged the legality of a similar law. In that case, the appeal court ruled that Hollywood's ordinance clashed with state laws, which allow for seizing cars only when a felony is committed.

Even though the city repealed the law, Tampa police officers were still able to seize vehicles of suspected drug dealers and other illegal activities under a state law.

Shortly after becoming Tampa's mayor in April, Buckhorn re-commissioned an SUV seized under that program – a jet-black GMC Yukon Denali with tinted windows police said had previously belonged a convicted pimp – for use as his official city vehicle.