Philly cops' grift exposed: they tow legally parked cars to illegal parking spots then sell them at auction

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Originally published at: Philly cops' grift exposed: they tow legally parked cars to illegal parking spots then sell them at auction | Boing Boing

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I live in Philadelphia. This surprises me not one bit. The PPD are basically another layer of organized crime a lot of times.

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Can’t say I’m surprised, it is Philadelphia

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So, officially sanctioned car theft?

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Chicago cops were doing a similar auction racket with cars that broke down on the I-90/94 (on the south side, where the poor live). They would back-date the abandoned vehicle tickets by three weeks and sell the cars at auction immediately.

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A good case for always-on trackers and regular data downloads. Plus always-on dashcams, perhaps.

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Also a good case for not owning a car! :grinning:

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Huh, it’s almost like having police self-fund their operations through whatever booty they can extract from the public is a bad way to fund policing. (of course, it’s possible there is no good way to fund policing except for de- funding…)

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WTF is a “courtesy tow”?

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Ideally, all their money extracting schemes should be piped into underfunded school districts and other programs that combat poverty and inequality.

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In Philly? Ha! A15 minute trip by car takes over an hour on mass transit.

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Just the next logical step in a long progression of legalised highway robbery by American police departments. Another reeking stave of the rotten barrel.

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It is like a courtesy tasing. You know, just a… courtesy. :thinking:

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As in…it’s a courtesy to not be shot to death by the police?

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The headline about “Philly cops’ grift” makes it sound like the cops make money on this scheme. The money actually goes to the State of Pennsylvania, because the state legislature, recognizing some years ago that the Philadelphia Parking Authority is a source of revenue, passed legislation making it a state agency. Any extra money the PPA has after funding their operations is supposed to go to Philadelphia schools. Unfortunately, they don’t ever seem to have any extra (which, in fairness, who does?).

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As long as the state is insisting on blowing people up for fun and profit, cops like these need to go first.

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It’s in the linked article, when a car is towed from a temporary no parking zone to a new parking space rather than simply being impounded immediately as it would be where I live. The article is worth a read.

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For less dense suburban areas it is a tow for which the owner is not charged for, hence a “courtesy tow.” This is sometimes done when a vehicle needs to be moved but does not merit a citation/impountment per se. Examples:

  1. Broken down vehicle on highway shoulder that is relocated to town long term guest parking lot.
  2. Vehicle blocking a town event (farmers market) and was parked legally the night before.
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They never highlighted this team on Parking Wars.

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In Colorado, home of at least two recent BB police topics, the ability of state and local police departments to directly benefit from civil forfeiture has been severely curtailed. They can’t just steal cars with only a lie anymore. A conviction must be obtained first.
Whether that would help in this case, IDK, but this scheme seems tailor-made for recouping lost budget dollars “stolen” from them under common sense reforms.
Has such a measure been passed in PA?

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