Predatory Towing Caused Christmas Misery In Springfield, Missouri

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A twisted, wrong-headed interpretation of the words "overnight parking" caused misery for a family in Springfield, according to an article on KY3.com, click here.

It happened like this: The MacGregor family has a daughter, and the daughter's boyfriend was visiting on Christmas. So that tells you something...

It tells you some of the cost of this towing fee will be money the family won't have a chance to use for wedding expenses. Because when a boyfriend visits his girlfriend's family at Christmas, that's SERIOUS.

In any case, the boyfriend and the daughter own a car together (so are they LIVING together? OK, never mind) and he left the car at the Grayhound station after he boarded the bus.

Signs in the parking lot say "No overnight parking" but, obviously, the boyfriend didn't think the sign applied to him leaving the car for a short while and having somebody else pick it up when he boarded the bus. Overnight generally means, well, overnight.

But Greyhound seems to think the words "overnight parking" should be interpreted "unattended vehicles."

Such overzealous interpretation makes me strongly suspect (though I can't prove it, admittedly) somebody is getting a kickback from the towing companies. This type of kickback is so common, and causes so much predatory and abusive towing, that many states have outlawed the practice.

Here's another reason to, as they say, "Go Greyhound" and "Leave the driving to us." Because Greyhound tricked you with a deceptive parking lot sign, then had your car towed.

Dark and Dingy Garages, Warning Signs On Wheels, And No You DO NOT Get A Receipt, Lady...All In Kansas City, Mo.

Flickr.com Photo, Kansas City, Mo.

As I reported a couple weeks ago, click here, Kansas City, Mo. is in the process of revising its ordinances, trying to eliminate some of the rampant abuses by towing companies.

Like water long under pressure erupting in a geyser, (or maybe a broken radiator hose would be a better example) citizens vented tales of victimization by towing companies on the prowl...

According to this article in the Kansas City Star, click here, many of the complaints center on inadequate signs in parking lots which were "broken, hung upside down, hidden in dark corners or non existent." One woman was denied a receipt after retrieving her car from a "dark and dingy" garage.

A man named Jonathan De Haven lost his job after losing his car, and noted the warning sign mysteriously appeared after he parked....no doubt aided by the fact it was on wheels.

Readers should take note of the statement in the "manifest" of this blog, about the intimate connection between one's car and one's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

I'm glad to say I contacted the office of Kansas City Councilperson Circo to make sure she knew about this blog, where many examples have been gathered of cities trying to reform their ordinances. The article in the Kansas City Star lists the reforms Circo has proposed, and these are all good reforms, but individuals who posted in the comments section of the article (part of the "sub-blogosphere") are emphatic that Kansas City doesn't actually ENFORCE its laws about towing.

For example, "chasing tows" is illegal, and yet (according to some posters) there is ample evidence tow trucks are running to accident scenes by monitoring police radio channels, often arriving even before squad cars.

Notably, the Kansas City Star has reportedly been swamped with calls complaining about predatory towing, as one of its higher-ups mentioned in passing. (Click here)

Once this ordinances is passed (and I think it will be) a good story for the Kansas City Star might be trying to see if the rules are actually being enforced.

Desperate For Details In The Wake Of An FBI Raid In St. Louis

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Like the reporter in Springfield, Massachusetts who couldn't get much information out of tight-lipped FBI officials, click here, the newspaper in St. Louis reported on the FBI seizing 26 vehicles from an impound lot, click here, but nobody seems to know why...

Nobody who is saying anything, anyway.

Online comments posted with the article--the ones who somehow managed to stay focused on relevant, non-theological topics--included some substantive remarks, but I found one of the remarks more substantive than all the others:

It's no wonder St. Louis can't manage to get major conventions. Gee, and you wonder why?

The image above is the St. Louis Convention Center. I can't help but notice nobody is parked out front.

Oh, another good remark: thank goodness for courageous journalism which exposes this kind of government scandal.

FBI Involvement In The St. Louis, Missouri S&H Towing Scandal

Flickr.com Photo,
St. Louis Impound Lot

No sooner have I finished blogging about the FBI's sudden involvement in the Springfield, Massachusetts situation, click here, when there is publicity about the agency's actions with the ongoing S&H Towing mess in St. Louis...

Currently, KTVI is reporting FBI agents were "scattered all over the property," which KTVI could observe from a news helicopter, click here for details.

As I reported before when blogging about this situation, click here, the St. Louis FBI is asking anyone with a vehicle towed in the last five years to complete a brief survey on their website.

In the meantime, KVTI continues to provide great coverage of this predatory towing scandal, with more than half a dozen stories on their website.

FBI Seeks St. Louis Towing Information

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Media in St. Louis recently carried a public service announcement (PSA) on behalf of the FBI, which I feel pretty comfortable reproducing verbatim...

...or, well, pretty close to verbatim. Adding a picture of former Police Chief Joe Mokwa was my own little touch.

According to the PSA, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service (!!!) are seeking public assistance to identify people who had their vehicles towed or held by St. Louis Metropolitan Towing, S & H Parking, or Parks Auto Sales. (Of St. Louis)

IF YOUR VEHICLE WAS TOWED IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, the FBI and the IRS would like you to log onto the St. Louis FBI Web site at www.stlouis.fbi.gov to complete a brief survey under the heading "Towing Survey."

If you prefer, you may also call a tip line at 1-800-225-5324.

Here is my little comment: there are a number of ugly towing scandals all over the nation including. So why isn't the FBI and IRS getting into those scandals, as well? Is it only the possibility of police corruption which draws these much-needed federal resources to get to the bottom of an ugly towing scandal?

St. Louis Towing Controversy Reveals A "Civil War Relic" Of A Law

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Abusive and predatory towing is a subject fraught with emotion, and when a public scandal involving the topic happens--look out! The conflict and controversy might spill over into other areas of politics which seem almost unrelated.

This was the case in St. Louis, where the chief of police has already resigned in a big, tangled mess involving vehicles seized, towed, and ultimately sold...some of which the police chief's daughter got at below-wholesale prices...

Now, according to this article, the scandal has exposed the pitfalls of an archaic law dating back to the Civil War era, which basically gives the local Board of Aldermen very little power over the appointment of a city police chief. Instead, the police chief answers to a board of commissioners who are appointed mostly by the state's governor. (The city mayor is automatically a member of the board, as well)

Under this arrangement, the police chief isn't even required to show up for an investigative hearing if the Board of Aldermen decided to have one. (Which seems quite an unlikely prospect)

Why such an unusual arrangement? The answer, according to reporter Jake Wagman, is something I find quite fascinating. Just before the Civil War, secessionists in the legislature took over the reins on the St. Louis chief of police to keep Union supporters in St. Louis from getting access to the armory.

Further, according to Wagman, there is only one board like this anywhere else in the country. It's in Kansas City, Missouri. (Yes, I find it maddening there is a place called Kansas City in MISSOURI. Any American schoolchild who studies our nation's geography probably feels the same way, at least once. The existence of Kansas City, MISSOURI is an abomination, but changing the name would be worse than the current situation)

So apparently there have been moves to reform the old law, and put control back in local hands, but between the fact the locals haven't always made themselves look very good (Wagman mentions the struggling school system and controversies in the fire department) and the fact it gives the governor a lot of power--and what politician wants to give THAT up?--things have not changed since, good grief, ABRAHAM LINCOLN was in office.

Though Chief Mokwa wasn't all bad--the article talks about his many strengths, including responsiveness to cleaning up "drug corners," something I'd love to see happen in my own area of North Minneapolis--the rules governing who can become Chief of Police in St. Louis require an appointment from within the department.

And that's unfortunate, because as any student of public policy can tell you (and I count myself among them) a rather standard move in these cases is to appoint a politically-untainted outsider to clean things up in the troubled department and thus reassure the public that reform really will happen. (Wagman mentions the cities of Miami and Los Angeles as places which have used this tactic)

So now we have a St. Louis police department which is (as the article) puts it "under [a] cloud of controversy" due to the towing scandal, and yet due to the "Civil War relic" appointment system, the only possible replacement must come from high-ranking officers who served under former Chief Mokwa.

What a mess.

Meanwhile, can citizens in St. Louis get their towed vehicles back any faster? Are there any attempts to reform the predatory and abusive practices which creep into non-consent towing when graft and corruption have contaminated the system?

No. Obviously not. The "Civil War relic" is a fascinating foray into obscure legalisms--a well done article, bravo--but what about the ordinary citizens of St. Louis, and how they are being treated when their vehicles get towed?

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Rips The Lid Off An Ugly Towing Scandal

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A complex controversy has emerged in St. Louis, Missouri, which has already caused the resignation of a police chief...

An excellent article by three reporters at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch lays out the sordid details, including these choice nuggets:

1.) The impound lot of S&H parking looks like "a prison for cars," with razor wire topped fences and--good grief!--guards in elevated towers standing watch. A photo taken by Dawn Majors of the Post-Dispatch shows a sign with a snarling German Shepherd, warning "GUARD DOG ON DUTY."

2.) (Former) Police Chief Joe Mokwa has resigned in the wake of the scandal and questions about his creditability but not to worry! He walked away with a $100k severance package.

3.) The chief's daughter and "an unknown number of officers" received the free use of impounded vehicles for years. This is not an allegation, but an admission of the Police Board.

4.) The city's towing director, Denney Hunter, wrote a memo (obtained by the newspaper) directing the choice cars to be towed to S&H Parking--which is at the center of the scandal--and the crappy, inoperable cars went to the city tow lot.

5.) This worked out nicely, since S&H was allowed to keep vehicles unclaimed after 30 days once they "attempted to contact" the vehicle's owner. Yeah, I bet those were some really listless attempts. How did S&H work out this sweetheart deal? A former police officer named Gregory Shepherd, who came loaded with experience and a heroic reputation for drug busts, spent the last two years of his cop career dealing with his department's Asset Forfeiture unit.

This unit dealt with cars seized as part of a crime. When he left the department, Shepherd brought his experience, insight and contacts to S&H, which soon built a lucrative business dealing with seized vehicles.

6.) The vehicles were sold through Parks Auto Sales. S&H paid only half the towing fee to the city and kept various surcharges. This deal was described as "unusual" when compared to the deal worked out with another (less favored) entity called Bill's Wrecker.

7.) There were instances of employees being told they had to wait outside the office because Police Chief Mokwa was inside, meeting with S&H owner William Bialczak and Shepherd, the towing operation manager. (To be perfectly objective, I don't see an issue with this. Lower ranking employees are often barred from meetings of higher-ups. I've witnessed this all my adult life and I expect to continue witnessing it)

8.) Even after turning over the really sweet cars to S&H, the St. Louis tow lot still averaged over a million dollars a year in profit. OK, that's just obscene. Towing lots should be run in a break-even manner, not a source of squeezing blood from citizens. Shame on you, St. Louis.

9.) Parks Auto (the entity selling the seized vehicles) gave the Chief's daughter, Aimie Mokwa, a 2000 Dodge Neon, which she wrecked in 2002. Parks sold Aimie Mokwa three vehicles in the next five years for prices "far below wholesale value." The Post-Dispatch uncovered the car accident, which helped to show the police chief wasn't telling the whole truth when he said he didn't learn of his daughter's (frequent) use of S&H cars.

The (former) police chief now says he "might have known about it sooner but didn't think much of it at the time." OK, think about this: a business entity run by somebody who is (reportedly) one of your best friends...a guy who invites you to his son's wedding...gives your daughter a new car. She wrecks the car. She proceeds to get more cars at a steep discount. But you don't think much of it?

This is why the chief resigned. This is why he lost creditability with his board. Because Aimie Mokwa wrecked a car. That's how the whole mess unraveled.

This is the first towing scandal I've blogged about coming out of the state of Missouri. Oh, sure, I blogged about a mud-bog parking lot, and Missouri did get mentioned in the comprehensive Minneapolis report about abusive booting practices. But this is the first big Missouri story to hit www.towingutopia.com.

Thanks, S&H Parking for putting Missouri on the map when it comes to abusive and predatory practices in the towing industry.

Now I just need to do my usual thing: point out this is not a local phenomenon, but part of a national pattern of predatory towing practices.

Another Muddy Pit of Automotive Perdition

These aren't more pictures from bootsartemis, but from a completely different Flickr.com user (gregneon96) who took these pictures in Missouri.

This is the kind of ridiculous, abusive, Third World standard which is all-too-common with non-consent towing all over the United States.

(Do not click "Read More")