Over the last five years, more than a quarter of all tows led to owners giving up their car instead of paying the fines.
A new audit says the San Diego Police Department’s vehicle towing program appears to be disproportionately hurting low-income people and other vulnerable groups.recommends city officials consider alternative approaches that could soften the impact, such as a “text before tow” program, parking “boots” or offers of community service instead of fines.
Police officials agreed to make the program more transparent, including by complying with the city auditor’s suggestion to complete a statistics-rich comprehensive report — the first since 2013. It also asked for a breakdown of those percentages for each of the city’s nine council districts to gauge the impact on low-income neighborhoods and residents.“The Police Department recognizes the city’s concerns about balancing its interests of enforcement with mitigating disproportionate impacts of towing on low-income individuals, and will work with city leadership in an effort to identify problems and assist in the city’s policy decisions for the tow administration program,” the chief wrote.
The audit, released Monday afternoon, found that the number of vehicle tows had been dropping sharply and steadily before a recent plateau. The percentage of tows that happen for reasons more common among vulnerable populations — called disproportionate impact tows in the audit — has remained mostly steady since fiscal 2017.
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