| | Michael - have you ever been towed? That is a terrible example. They steal your car, which is far more valuable than any minor tresspass that may or may not have taken place. Then they hold it hostage until you pay their excessive fees. You have zero recourse to courts or due process.
I was at a meeting devoted to opposing the ICE raids and similar offences against basic human rights this morning. One of the common tactics of the local police is to stage ID checkpoints in low-income minority areas. They used to be justified as DUI checkpoints, but now they just refer to them as "checkpoints." At a "checkpoint" you are required to show a drivers license and proof of insurance - without any evidence of any crime. Lacking either means that your car is towed. The last one I ran into involved at least thirty officers and a long line of tow trucks.
The vehicle is towed and will spend the next 30 days in mandatory storage at the legally designated police tow year, accumulating outrageous storage fees, typically amounting to over $2,000 by the end. If no one comes forward with the required ID, they won't release the vehicle, which is then auctioned after 30 days, and if the proceeds are less than the amount "owed" to the tow yard, the owner is sent a bill for the difference, in addition to losing their car. They are supposed to allow you to request a hearing before the extended time, but they typically put you on hold endlessly and then hang up until you give up, or the person who can authorize the hearing is never available.
When I lived in Long Beach in the early '80's, one of my cars was subject to a police tow once when I drove my other car up to San Jose for the LP conference, and the city decided to do street repair without posting the notices for the required three days first. When I went to pick it up in Signal Hill, I could see a whole bunch of police badges pinned to the wall behind the counter. The guy who let me into the tow yard after much argument - he wanted money up front before I would be allowed to inspect my car for damage - told me that I was not allowed to start my car, which I did anyway, at which point I discovered that someone had gratuitously drained the radiator. After he finished SCREAMING at me about starting my motor, of course he had no water for the radiator.
I drove it dry to a used car place just down the street, where the owner told me that the Signal Hill police tow, where all cars towed in Long Beach by the cops were sent, was actually owned and operated by off-duty Signal Hill cops, while the Long Beach police tow, where all cars towed by order of the Signal Hill cops were sent, was owned and operated by off-duty Long Beach police. ... Thereby, of course, avoiding conflict of interest... ;-)
Since then, I've brought the subject up to a friend who is a retired paralegal with extensive criminal law experience. He tells me that this is a very typical arrangement, more the rule than the exception here in the OC. There are special laws, in addition, protecting tow drivers from liability. And, until recently, when some local guy chasing his car on foot was run over and killed by the tow driver, tow companies had carte blanc authority to tow ANY car, even in a totally private complex, which violated any parking rule, even if someone had stopped momentarily to run into a building to pick up a child, for example, and without any persmission from the complex's owners. Tow drivers would lurk about such complexes, waiting to swoop the instant that someone left their vehicle.
If you do have to call for a tow, BTW, STAY WITH THE CAR!!!!! DO NOT trust ANY tow driver. The typical tow driver makes about $5~$10 per tow, often less than minimum wage, and is the sort of person who could not get a minimum wage job. Many tow drivers are ex-cons and some moonlight as car thieves, where having a tow truck is especially convenient. Many do not even have driver's licences. Forget all the specs that say that - to avoid destroying your transmission - the car must be towed from a specific end and not over, say, 40 mph. If you are not RIGHT THERE and do not know and INSIST, the tow driver will almost invariable grab the most convenient end and head for the freeway. Bye, bye transmission...
(I worked for a couple weeks as a tow driver trainee, during the early '80's recession. It was a real eye-opener.)
BTW, regarding competing governments in the same geographical area, that was precisely the case in Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, with a joint rule by the French, British and native governments. There were three separate court systems, with three distinct sets of laws. You could choose which one to go to, and if other parties preferred a different one, there were prior agreements as to how to set up a joint court panel to hear the case. I don't think that their respective police forces ever went to war.
(Edited by Phil Osborn on 10/20, 4:01pm)
(Edited by Phil Osborn on 10/20, 4:03pm)
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