CITY HALL — An effort to require car dealerships and rental car lots to keep keys and temporary license plates under lock and key to keep them from being used in crimes stalled Tuesday in the face of objections that it would inconvenience customers at O'Hare and Midway airports.
The measure was authored by 48th Ward Ald. Harry Osterman after police officials in his Far North Side ward reported that cars stolen from dealerships were being used in crimes across the city.
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The measure would require dealerships and car rental agencies to keep keys to cars "in a secure lockbox inside the salesroom building at all times when the motor vehicle salesroom is not open for business."
In addition, temporary license plates issued to dealerships would have to be "secured to a motor vehicle by tamper-resistant security screws, or placed in a secure lockbox inside the salesroom building."
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Sgt. Keith Blair, the head of the Chicago Police Department's auto theft division, told the City Council that cars stolen from dealerships and rental car lots have been used in "crimes of opportunity," including a spate of "bump-and-run" robberies where a victim's car is rear ended, and when the victim gets out to inspect the damage, a man gets into the victim's car and drives away with it.
The stolen cars have also been used in shootings and murders, Blair said.
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However, the City Council's Public Safety Committee agreed to postpone a vote after representatives of Enterprise Rental Cars asked that lots at O'Hare and Midway airports be excluded from the requirements, telling aldermen that customers would be inconvenienced.
The measure could return to the public safety committee for a vote in September.
