Well, I have a question about the nation wide Towing Zone Scam, and I could use constructive feedback.

My Air Force son, now being stationed in Portugal, drove my old van (he just transfered title to me) to a farewell dinner with an AF buddy, at Cheddar's Casual Cafe. Cheddars was crowded as usual, and he parked the van behind Cheddars in the old ALLTEL parking lot (Alltel retail closed this operation) where there is a "Towing Zone" sign still standing to guard the lot, and A*****, the local towing service driver lurks in the area waiting for a 'pigeon' to fly into his trap.

As soon as my son and his buddy were inside Cheddars (9:30pm Friday night) Albert called B***** over at NNPD and registers a complaint from the Property Agent at ALLTEL that a tow has been called.

Well, my son calls at 11:30p to tell me the good news after wandering around trying to figure out who stole his locked van. By 2am this morning, We had paid the $120 towing charge for parking in a posted lot of a non operational business behind a busy Newport News Restaurant.

Folks, this is out and out extortion. The NNPD is an unwitting accomplice in this criminal extortion scam.

Had that been me that had my car towed, I would have been stranded in the middle of the night with no way to get to my car and pay the extortion charge. I would have had to pay cab fair, and extra storage charges IF I COULD afford to pay them, or I would loose my transportation. I am on a fixed Soc.Security. This unsolicited 'towing service' activity is criminal in its nature.

Folks, I understand that Towing services are important for the normal flow of business when parked vehicles are interfering with patrons, or are abandoned on private or public property. BUT there is a line between improper use of private or public parking areas, and criminal extortion by towing services. Remember, NO ONE called the towing company, because NO ONE CARED if a Cheddar's patron was using the unused space for an hour or two. NNPD Officer B***** should be trained to verify that an ACTUAL REQUEST was made for a tow, and not just routinely assume that a request was made at 9:30 Friday night.

I am filing a formal complaint with the Department of Transportation, Board of Towing and Recovery Operators. They are trying to crack down and eliminate these PREDATORY practices by individuals in the industry.

I need two items and some information before I send in my complaint, and I would appreciate any useful comments on how to obtain the information I need.

1. I need to know how to get a copy of the NNPD Tow Service log (from B***** and crew) so I can identify some Tow Zone Traps in the area that is frequented by A***** and his friends.
2. I need to get a copy of the Contract for towing between A******'s Company and ALLTEL to see if the unrequested call for towing is in the contract.
3. I need to review Virginia law to see if the TOW TRAPS and unrequested towing services are in any way legal. So far, in my readings, they all state, or assume that an owner or property manager has personally requested the towing service.

I will be making calls this week to the various agencies I can manage to contact, but I could use any insights you are willing to share. I will be posting my progress. It is my hope that my exposure of my experience with this corrupt practice can make police more aware of these 'thefts' when they are occurring around town. Many people are being abused by this practice. If my basic understanding of the situation is correct, my efforts will be instrumental in having A*****'s license revoked, and that of others that show a pattern in the NNPD towing service logs.

I noticed that NN Police does not frequent this LEOAFFAIRS sight. Hopefully if you have an NNPD officer as a friend, you will invite him into the discussion.

Now to a more personal note:

While driving back from picking up the van (north or Ft. Eustis), I made a lane change (well, actually 4 lanes) with out a turn signal (I was trying to direct my son from Warick to Jefferson by way of Denbigh so we could visit the scene of the crime). I know the basics of Newport News roads, but can not see the street names well in the dark until I am very close). Well, one of your finest (the place is crawling with cops at 2am Saturday morning) had the nerve to pull me over because of the faulty lane change (actually, I believe he thought I was drinking). After doing about 10 minutes of some of my finest song and dance routines, he and several visiting officers let me go with a warning. Thank you for doing your job officer, and thank you for realizing that I'm just your average screwed up driver, and not a drinker.

I have found that the best way to tell an average good town from a dirty corrupt town is the way traffic cops treat you. I screw up all the time with (usually) carefully done STUPID driving errors that are technically wrong, but not really dangerous in the situation (2/3 of the traffic on Warick at 2am seems to be cop cars, not civilian cars) As soon as the officer realized I was terminally stupid, and not criminally intoxicated, he released me with a warning. THAT is the kind of cop that makes me feel relatively safe (ie. by that I mean safe from others, I am my own worst enemy, and If I'm going to get screwed, It is usually I that is screwing me), by watching out for my safety and that of others, but not a RULES PRICK with a ticket quota to meet.

Thank you officer for doing your job and protecting me properly. (I did not catch your name tag with all the headlights and BLUE lights in my face)