Detroit PD to Overhaul Towing System amid Corruption Scandal
By Sarah Rahal
Source The Detroit News
DETROIT—Detroit Police Chief James White on Tuesday laid out the first steps in reforming the city's towing practices amid an ongoing bribery investigation that has ensnared several police officers and a city councilman.
White, during a Tuesday news conference at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters, said the department is working to implement a new process that would make it "very difficult, if not entirely impossible, for anyone to repeat some of the behavior we've seen."
The briefing mirrored the four key areas Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan outlined to The Detroit News in September to reconfigure the city's municipal towing system.
"Some of the things that happened are inexcusable," White said Tuesday of Detroit's past towing practices. "Those responsible are being held accountable. Those who have been charged will get their day in court."
To improve transparency, White said, the city intends to incorporate a specialized tow management software system that the administration hopes to bring before Detroit's City Council next week. The software, he said, incorporates competitive bidding to cut out bad actors.
The city also has launched a police department-led towing company to prevent abuse and a towing rotation system based on geographic location as opposed to a first-come, first-served approach.
Plans to move to an open competitive bid process were paused earlier this year after the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners voted to extend existing permits. But the board, in September, voted to lessen its role.
The city in 2011 began allowing towing companies to work under permits, which don't require as much documentation and scrutiny as contracts and are not competitively bid.
White's overhaul also calls for a Code Enforcement Unit to increase accountability. A final component, he said, is a towing mobile app for residents to verify towing vendors throughout the city.
White said the tow management software for vehicles ordered impounded by the department will track the time a vehicle is towed until it's released and will help "guard against anyone steering tows toward certain companies."
The reforms come amid a federal investigation coined "Operation Northern Hook," which resulted in August FBI raids at the homes of Detroit Council members Janee Ayers, Scott Benson, their chiefs of staff and City Hall as part of a probe centered on towing.
Ayers, Benson and their staffers have not been charged with wrongdoing.
The investigation resulted in the resignation of former Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey, who pleaded guilty to bribery in September.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged retired officer Alonzo Jones, 55, with bribery and accused Jones of receiving approximately $3,200 in bribes from July 2019 to May 2021, according to a criminal filing.
The allegations against Jones came one week after two other Detroit Police personnel, including a former Internal Affairs lieutenant, were charged and accused of pocketing cash, receiving free cars and other bribes while steering work to a towing company and offering to leak inside information.
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