Taking the Wait Out of Vehicle Towing

Though a few kinks need to be worked out, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is moving ahead with a new software program that will streamline communications handling tow truck dispatches.

The program was developed and marketed by a familiar name in law enforcement: former county Sheriff Brad Gates.

An 18-month pilot program was approved unanimously last week by the Board of Supervisors to test the product, developed by Dispatch and Tracking Solutions, a limited partnership in Newport Beach that employs Gates. Under the contract, the company will earn at least $60,000 and a maximum of $118,500, depending on the number of tows, during the 18-month period. The county gets use of the product free of charge.

The software will enable a dispatcher to order a tow truck, log the company’s name and give the truck’s estimated arrival time, all with a few keystrokes, said Sheriff’s Capt. Ron Wilkerson.

By contrast, when deputies make an arrest now or want an abandoned vehicle removed, the dispatcher first must find which tow firm to use based on a rotational system, then telephone the company and give the location.

Too Much Manpower Used Before Software

Typically, the deputy ends up waiting at the scene, losing valuable time while wondering when and if the truck will arrive. The deputy usually makes a second call to the dispatcher asking for an update, requiring more of the dispatcher’s time, Wilkerson said.

“All that goes away, and that’s a savings in operational efficiency,” Wilkerson said. He added that if successful, the computer program could free for other duty three sheriff’s employees who now dispatch and log more than 10,000 tows a year.

In addition, the software will eliminate time-consuming paperwork for field deputies, who now have to identify vehicles in countless forms, and does away with the need for an office clerk to input the same information into the sheriff’s computer system, he said.

“What we’re going to do is take an automated file right from the tow company, which has the tracking software, and it automatically gets [put] into the system,” Wilkerson said.

Firms that contract with the Sheriff’s Department now charge vehicle owners $78 to tow small cars and $180 for larger vehicles. Additionally, storage fees run $21 a day for cars and $31 for trucks.

Dispatch and Tracking Solutions is providing the program at no cost to the department, but a $6 fee per tow will be passed on to owners of towed vehicles. The system is expected to be in use in January.

Sushil Garg, Dispatch and Tracking Solutions manager, said tow firms like the product because they receive a computer software package for tracking, dispatch and billing of department tows.

Thirteen of the 20 tow companies contracted with the Sheriff’s Department have volunteered to be part of the pilot program.

“Some firms already have some type of tracking system, but it’s not as efficient, and we give them a system that they can use with the Internet that doesn’t require a large computer,” Garg said.

Gates Has ‘Insight and Direction,’ Says Garg

Gates, who retired in 1999 after 24 years in office and 36 with the department, has told associates of his involvement in developing the software system.

Gates and Garg became business associates after Garg bought out a previous computer firm two years ago that had developed an earlier, though primitive, version of the software.

“After we bought the company, we talked to Gates and he had the experience and he provided the insight and direction,” Garg said.

Gates is chairman of the company’s advisory board. He did not respond to requests for an interview.

Government activist Shirley Grindle questioned whether the software program was really needed and why, if the company was testing its product with a pilot program, they had to earn a profit.

“This sounds like a sole-source contract, and there certainly are questionable conflicts here,” Grindle said.

Already, the software company has contacted 30 other law enforcement agencies across the country hoping to encourage similar projects.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jon Fleischman said Gates made the proposal to Sheriff Michael Carona some months ago. Ironically, Carona and Gates were longtime bitter political rivals when Carona ran the O.C. marshal’s office.