Cleveland police resume tracking cars sold for scrap

December 14, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Police have resumed enforcing a city law designed to catch rogue tow truck drivers who steal unattended or disabled vehicles and sell them for scrap metal.

The practice is difficult to quantify and even harder to stop, said Lt. Jean LeSuer. Thieves steal more than 6,000 vehicles a year in Cleveland, but it’s unclear how many of these can be attributed to tow truck drivers.

Police were frustrated between December 2007 and mid-October, a time when they were under instructions from the city law department not to enforce a law that gives them power to stop a tow truck driver at any time and request to see paperwork authorizing a tow, LeSuer said.

The directive said a state law passed in 2003 “has delegated to the Public Utilities Commission authority to regulate and supervise motor transportation companies to the exclusion of local authorities.”

As a result, courts dismissed citations written for violations to the city ordinance, and until the law department could review the issue, police were told not to enforce it.

City officials reversed course in October and told police to resume enforcing the local rules.

“Our hands were tied for almost a year,” LeSuer said. “Anything that helps make this job a bit easier is a great thing. This ban took away a tool our officers could use to investigate something they believed looked suspicious.”

A message seeking comment from the law department was left Saturday with Mayor Frank Jackson’s press secretary.

People running legitimate towing businesses say thieves have tarnished the industry. The rogues often operate without the proper licenses and equipment.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates for-hire tow truck operations, frequently audits those who play by the rules and are properly registered, said Don Mesaros, president of the Towing and Recovery Association of Ohio.

Meanwhile, thieves operate unchecked, undermining the integrity of the profession, he said.

In recent years, the towing association has included in its newsletters forms for members to report all kinds of unscrupulous business practices, Mesaros said. The association forwards the complaints to the utilities commission.

To scrap a car in Ohio, it must be accompanied by the vehicle’s title.

If the seller of a car is not the titled owner, scrap metal dealers should record the seller’s name and address, an ID number from the seller’s driver’s license, a physical description of the seller and the seller’s expenditures for the vehicle.