Pueblo Police issue more than 100 citations for unregistered vehicles in 1 week

Pueblo, Colo. (KKTV) - Last week, the Pueblo Police Department announced that it will be designating officers to enforce vehicle registration laws.

From March 29 to April 4, the department issued 112 citations for unregistered vehicles. There were also several arrests for warrants and several vehicles towed because the drivers didn’t have insurance.

The department calls unregistered vehicles a “chronic problem” in the community and hopes to curb the problem in the coming months. Sgt. Frank Ortega tells 11 News Reporter Jack Heeke that unregistered vehicles are often used in criminal activity. He added that some people will continually schedule and reschedule appointments without ever actually getting a licence plate to avoid the high fees.

Ortega says that even if someone has an appointment scheduled they will still be ticketed.

“We will ticket regardless of if you have an appointment or not,” Ortega explained. “That’s an affirmative defense. That’s something you can raise in court saying “I had an appointment when I received this ticket.” It is up to the judge to decide what they want to do.”

Ortega adds that it is much easier to register your vehicle now than it has been for the last two years. He encourages anyone who has not registered their vehicle to do so at the county courthouse, online, or at one of the kiosks around the city.

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