St. Louis Police Get Free Use Of Impounded Cars

ST Louis today reports on how local cops get free use of impounded cars:

During Labor Day weekend 2002, St. Louis city police responded shortly after midnight to an unusual call.

The police chief’s daughter, Aimie Mokwa, then 27, had crashed a car.

It was a car she didn’t own. St. Louis police had seized it during a drug arrest and turned it over to a private company that holds a lucrative towing contract with the department. That company gave her free use of it.

Better:

After one accident, her blood-alcohol concentration tested at .17. She wasn’t arrested or charged. The department says it has “no idea” why she was let go.

Dunno:

Seems that the city of St. Louis, like many cities, allows the police to confiscate the cars of people suspected (but not necessarily convicted) of certain crimes. They have a contract with a city towing firm, and said firm was allowing police officers and their families to “rent” confiscated cars free of charge, sometimes for months on end. Officers and their families could also sometimes purchase the confiscated cars at a fraction of the cars’ value…

The police department hired a law firm, which concluded that the towing arrangement broke no rules or laws. The chief improbably claims he was oblivious to the deals his daughter was getting (her relationship with the towing service apparently goes back to 2002).

This is one for the detectives to crack…

Anorak

Posted: 21st, July 2008 | In: Anorak In New York, Police Log Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink