Towing Firms Sue Over LAPD Contract Bids

In a lawsuit, a group of towing companies have alleged that City Hall lobbyists and contractors are so powerful that competitive bidding on lucrative police towing contracts has been stalled, in violation of a city ordinance.

Three towing firms have asked a judge to transfer the job of overseeing the contract bids from the city to an outside committee because of what they allege are cozy relationships between unidentified staff members of the Police Commission and current franchise holders and their lobbyists.

City officials said Tuesday that staff shortages, not political favoritism, are responsible for delays in awarding the contracts, which give the franchise holder the exclusive right to respond to police calls for tows in a police division.

“The main reason is we’re understaffed and it’s a huge project,” said LAPD Det. Dan Carson, who oversees the contracts.

Sherman Oaks attorney Neil C. Evans, who filed the suit, said the city was supposed to have sought competitive bids on 12 of the 18 Official Police Garage contracts by now, but only one contract has been awarded in three years.

Evans, who began taking depositions from city officials this week, said the answer is to transfer the contract oversight to a committee of civilians not employed by the city.

Carson said he is processing the contracts as fast as he can, but that he and one other employee have primary responsibility for issuing requests for proposals, screening bids, investigating bidders and making recommendations to the Police Commission.

The 18 contracts, many of which generate revenue of more than $1 million per year, have been controversial for years. Some companies, critics complain, have held the police towing contracts for decades without competitive bidding.