By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MONROE - It's time to put the brakes on one small police department's practice of seizing drivers' licenses as bond, a federal lawsuit argues.

A pair of Butler County women, in a suit filed Thursday, admit they were speeding when Monroe police stopped them.

But it was wrong for police to take their licenses to ensure they would come to court, their lawyer says.

"Police have a great deal of power and a great deal of discretion, and that's appropriate," said Attorney Christopher Pagan. "But what they bond is a judicial function."

Pagan says Ohio law requires motorists' agreement to allow their licenses serve as bond, but his clients were forced to do so - and that violated their civil rights.

He wants U.S. District Court in Cincinnati to order Monroe police to discontinue the practice while the court case is pending.

Monroe Police Chief Ernest Howard said: "Your license is not a right. It's a privilege. ...I don't think it's punitive. All you have to do is come into court and get your license back."

He said the practice began several years ago. Elbert R. Tannreuther, then mayor, was having problems getting people to show up for court; Tannreuther heard about other communities using the license-seizure practice and asked Howard to check into it. "And that was our way to try to get people to come into court," Howard said.

Although the law allowing licenses as bond has been in effect since 1973, the practice is considered unusual, Greater Cincinnati law-enforcement officials have said.

However, police in the nearby Butler County city of Trenton, where Pagan's clients live, began following Monroe's lead about a year ago.

After officers seize alleged offenders' licenses, police provide them with a temporary driver's permit, which explains the person's driver's license is serving as bond.

But there are a good number of activities that can't be done without a driver's license, Pagan says. His clients, Kelli White and Trisha Spruance, say they were unable to write checks, complete bank transactions, buy alcohol or cigarettes until their licenses were returned. Further, Pagan says, the seizure "exposed them to the risk of being cited or arrested for failing to furnish the operator's license upon request. As such, they were deprived of a constitutionally protected liberty interest."

The women declined to comment.

But Pagan said he could comment based on his personal experience: Monroe police caught him speeding, too.

"I was going 66 in a 50 mile-per-hour zone, and doggone it, I was guilty," he said. "I was willing to accept it and pay the price." But then the officer seized Pagan's license. "I told him, 'No, you can't do that.'" The officer replied he was acting under Chief Howard's orders.

Pagan, who was heading to an appointment with a client in Warren Correctional Institution, said, "I wasn't able to get into the prison because I wasn't able to produce identification."

He sent Monroe a check for $41 and officials mailed back his license about two weeks later.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com