In related "money changes police tactics" news:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...
Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
11–20 of 142 posts
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#12So it sounds like car towing is outsourced to some kind of bounty hunting operation of private companies and no one know their arse from their elbow about where cars are moved. Pretty stupid. It would be easy to fix even with pen, paper and phones. But there should be a signed paper trail about the move.
And dropping the cars off in illegal spots, well the fine should go to the “driver” not the car.
I guess they are too lazy to change this or it is profiting someone personally?
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#13The article mentions two women who had each reported their cars stolen after the "courtesy" tow which makes one wonder -- _is_ this theft? If not, why? Does it matter if it's done by a private towing company?
> _is_ this theft? If not, why?
No, the asset is being moved, not retained by the mover, and it's ostensibly being done for the public good (edit: see the link further down the thread for why this matters). If _eminent domain_ isn't theft, this definitely isn't.
> Does it matter if it's done by a private towing company?
Not if they're deputized.
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#14> Henin was placed in handcuffs because police in New Jersey thought the car was stolen. That was because, months earlier, the car had been courtesy towed in West Philly, and she reported it stolen as police advised. Henin followed up with Philadelphia police when she later found her car, but they mistakenly left it in the stolen-vehicle database. It could be the argument for a sitcom. Not funny in real life when pol…
They didn’t check the license and registration of the vehicle?
It was reported stolen by the owner. Reread the article for the full story on that.
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#15> Problem is, the city doesn’t have a modern, reliable way to track the vehicles’ new locations, leaving owners wandering the streets for days or weeks, looking for their cars.
They could do vastly better than the status quo with century-old multi-part paper form technology. "White Copy - Central PD Tow Office", "Yellow Copy - Precinct PD Tow Clerk", "Pink Copy - DMV, to mail to vehicle owner", ...
This kind of worse-than-brain-dead sh*t-show is why so many people emotionally identify with "the government is the problem", "de-fund the police", and similar slogans.
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#16The article mentions two women who had each reported their cars stolen after the "courtesy" tow which makes one wonder -- _is_ this theft? If not, why? Does it matter if it's done by a private towing company?
> _is_ this theft? If not, why? No, the asset is being moved, not retained by the mover, and it's ostensibly being done for the public good (edit: see the link further down the thread for why this matters). If _eminent domain_ isn't theft, this definitely isn't. > Does it matter if it's done by a private towing company? Not if they're deputized.
With eminent domain can they move a house to a new location, the first the owner hears of it is when they see their house missing?
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#17I can think of a spec for a simple application that would fix all the problems associated with "courtesy [sic] towing". However, it also seems pretty clear that any city government that would engage in "courtesy [sic] towing" probably has zero interest in fixing it.
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#18> Problem is, the city doesn’t have a modern, reliable way to track the vehicles’ new locations, leaving owners wandering the streets for days or weeks, looking for their cars. They could do vastly better than the status quo with century-old multi-part paper form technology. "White Copy - Central PD Tow Office", "Yellow Copy - Precinct PD Tow Clerk", "Pink Copy - DMV, to mail to vehicle owner", ... This kind of worse…
> This kind of worse-than-brain-dead sh*t-show is why so many people emotionally identify with "the government is the problem", "de-fund the police", and similar slogans.
Those people are right. That is not just emotional, that is rational - that is the only sane attitude towards the fact that these groups with the power of violence over society are so incompetent or even malicious.
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#19> Henin was placed in handcuffs because police in New Jersey thought the car was stolen. That was because, months earlier, the car had been courtesy towed in West Philly, and she reported it stolen as police advised. Henin followed up with Philadelphia police when she later found her car, but they mistakenly left it in the stolen-vehicle database. It could be the argument for a sitcom. Not funny in real life when pol…
They didn’t check the license and registration of the vehicle?
Who are you gonna believe? Two forms of government issued paperwork, or your buddy on the other end of the radio? /s
Re: Philly pays $30K to two 'courtesy' tow victims, but class-action suit continues
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn’t check the license and registration of the vehicle?
It was reported stolen by the owner. Reread the article for the full story on that.
Right, but they could have verified that the registered owner and person driving the car were the same person.
However, since it was in a different state, perhaps the registration database wasn't available - only the stolen vehicle database was.