Question about PD Rotations

[Tow411]

Topic Originally Created by BayAreaTowGuy in January of 2010:

 

Im in CA, I understand the general idea of the PD Rotations, but my question is this. Does each PD have their own list and rotation and act independently, or is it all one joint database for all the PD's. I can't really determine it, but in my experience it seems each has their own. But I have no evidence to back it up...

 

Jared1688 said:

From What I know out here the local city has a list and then the county has their own list...the little surrounding towns of the city use the counties list...so if a little town in the county has a roll over they call who ever is on the county list.

I am sure this is different throughout the country...
 

myerstowing  said:

Yes each Police Department has different providers, restrictions, and requirements pertaining to what they need. Some have limits of number of providers, some require certain equipment, and others have a free-for-all (A dying practice here thankfully). I hope that answers your question.

 

 

 

[x2delight]

each police department/city has their own requirements/rules/procedures to either qualify and/or bid on a select number of open slots. This is the usual method which allows everyone to make an "equal" share of all the tows. So if a city has 5 towing companies allowed on rotation, when the contract came avaliable, only 5 companies can be allowed but everyone can apply. At the end its usually who bid the competitive amount and met all the qualifications. 

 

or some police departments/cities allow numerous (not capped at certain number of companies) on the rotation as long as they qualify under the rules etc.

 

Same goes for the county. But depending on the county and size it could be one or the other methods i posted above. 

also for county it could be a huge ass county like San Bernardino, and it depending on what area you are, you would be given a rotation for that area.

 

CHP is the same way. Almost everyone is welcome as long as you meet the qualifications. If you have a yard in a certain area, you can service that area. 

 

The city rotations are where the money is. Thats where you get pretty much all the impounds and 30days etc. With CHP you mostly get alot of wrecks. Not always but that just seems to be the case depending on the area you are in. 

[rreschran]

Also note, contracts are no longer kept with the same tow companies who have served for many years. There should be no entitlement as to whether or not a tow company can, will, or should remain on a rotation list. The agency's head, director, Chief or Sheriff can determine and enforce the details of the tow contract to fit the needs of their agency. ANd, possibly the best narrative ever written was by industry attorney, Mr. Michael McGovern, in a, February 2009 article, in Tow Times Magazine entitled, "The "Point To" Test. In part Mr. McGovern writes, ... "if there is no state law or contract granting a legal entitlement, what is the nature of the interest a tow operator has in a place on a rotation list? It is merely a privilege that can be given or taken away, usually at the reasonably-exercised discretion of the government entity or law enforcement agency. Perhaps Tow Times can re-post that article here.   R.

[x2delight]

now a days most major cities on renewing or opening up more room for additional contractors actually vet the company like crazy. They get actual surrounding cities that use your company or wherever you are and they go off the what those cities comment on your services etc. Its alot of politics these days as well. i lived in cali for 20 years, the towing business is beautiful there. Great laws to help the towing companies and great profits. The impounds which remain at the end and have to be lien auctioned off bring some decent money too depending on what you tow in and get to keep etc.  Also for PPI Tows you are protected too and get your money. 

 

now lets talk about where i moved to *phoenix

 

Here, The tow rates suck, the storage fees suck.  Its peanuts here.  and then to top it off. Depending on what city you tow for or what agency. They actually have you in a bidding setup to see who will tow for what rates AND the amount of money (%) the towing company will kick back to the city/agency for the cars you have to dispose/lien sale. So shitty rates and i have to share the sales proceeds as well. Oh and from what i understand, Certain vehicles, seized etc usually some high dollar cars the city or agency uses usually their private auction contractor for the rest of their city vehicles/equipment etc to dispose of that seized vehicle.  I just saw the other day a DPS seized i think hellcat they were auctioning off. 

 

oh and if you do PPI here in arizona, good luck. The Lien Law doesnt apply to your tows. Meaning. The ppi you just performed, the vehicle owner can just walk in and demand the car back without paying. State Law. All they are required to give you is their info so you can send a bill or take it to court.. Pretty Lame, doesnt stop the companies we do have here that exclusively do it tho. 

[TTOUT]

Some of the issues we have here with rotations are the fact that in the heavy side, 13 of the 19 rotation spots are ran by 3 companies. In our area, you get one spot for one company. There are 3 people that own many companies and it really isn't ethical the way they run them. Example: you have tow company X gets a rotation call but they only have one heavy so they use a truck or trucks from company Y. Meanwhile company Z which has many trucks is sitting there not getting calls that they can do with only their company trucks. The rotation rules in our area are supposed to be one rotation call one company, if you need more trucks, another rotation call is made. Maybe you get your company, maybe you get a competitor but there should be 2 rotation calls if you dont have enough equipment to handle it. Also some of these companies have trucks based in another state, which means that sub company, if you will, is not even eligible for our state's rotation list. 

 

Our company has plenty of contracts to keep us busy and profitable without rotation but it sucks that it gets abused like this for those who need the rotation.

[rreschran]

Any contract is as good as the tow boss who administers it. Past history has demonstrated that some tow bosses are tough on violators, where others won't make corrections or changes because, "everything is working ok". I shan't mention the word, "favoritism", but, that too may come into play. When tow bosses are tough on violators, they should use the rules of the contract to weed-out those who don't can't won't play by the rules. If your company has a solid customer and account base to not have to be a law enforcement provider, why sign-up? And, for those tow owners who don't like what's going on with the competiton, you can choose to NOT be a rotation provider. Sometimes ... that's a better choice.    R. 

[TowZone]

Here's the way I see it. It the rotation system is profitable and a qualified company chooses or not participate is that system. Then it's like giving up or giving in to the other companies that may be less qualified. You keep giving your lunch money to the bully and the bully is empowered. Keep your lunch money and stay in the game, attempt to complain. However, do the very best you can with what you have and don't be too concerned with the injustice they are bringing to the system. You with find in time that good ole boy system will fail and the victor will be the one that stay in the game. Stay the course!

[rreschran]

Ron ... I agree to some of your comments as being correct for some areas of the country, however, the industry's past 45-years has proven that the, "Good Ole' Boy", system is alive and well across the US ... maybe not so much for the big cities, but is rural America the tradition hasn't changed. Example: When there are 26-companies on an area's rotation and there are 30-days in the month, the monetary outlay, facility requirements, staff/driver requirements, the politics, and head-aches oftentimes outweigh the dollars reaped. When a contract requires you to have a Class B truck for their rotation, and you go out and purchase a new Class B wrecker (to satisfy the contract), only to have the contract recinded, is it wise to spend more money to fight the agency or be smart and lick the wounds? Oh bye the way ... now you have a new Class B wrecker and no contract to go with it. Should a company hire three-more new drivers to staff a contract area that doesn't produce? Is it wise to pay hundreds of thousands in referral fees to tow maybe twenty-cars a month? And now, with third-party administrators eliminating storage dollars to many contracts, those few cars towed each rotation period makes for a tough decision ... Should we or shouldn't we?  I don't believe it's about kneeling to a bully, but more of a wise choice to know the full workings of government, state and municipal contracts. Much like thinking about buying that rotator, ya' have ta' know if your business can support the operational and administrative costs BEFORE it sits idle in the yard. Towing for law enforcement should be only one slice of a company's base. I personally like to serve law enforcement, but it's getting more and more difficult. Now that's something we can agree on.    R. 

[TowZone]

"When there are 26-companies on an area's rotation and there are 30-days in the month"

 

That often means at some point one bad system was replace with another bad system in attempt to satisfy everyone.

 

"Towing for law enforcement should be only one slice of a company's base"

 

If the contract is lucrative then preferably a company can dedicate units to the law enforcement requested tows and make the ETA more than 90% of the time. Having multiple companies in fairness do not produce the best results.

[rreschran]

A west coast rotation tow company was the top eta responder always with high percentage times. When the tow boss discussed alleged and rumored problems with the company, the tow owner stood his ground only to piss off the tow boss when the tow boss didn't have documentation to prove wrong-doing. The tow boss had the company removed from the contract. What's fair about that? 

[TowZone]

I understand the definition of Tow Boss though until this conversation I had never heard that term. Generally it is an assigned police Detective, Lieutenant, Sargent and sometimes it's a mayors assistant or even public works. There isn't a prefect system is there there are generally politics involved. That and personal preference cause a serious concern since when the "Tow Boss" changes so does that individuals preference.

 

How does a tow companu work to correct the system and still maintain a status on these contracts? I know some have kept notes and documentation, then taken legal action. 

[yoBdaBenO]

Sometimes it isn't what you know, but who you know. I find it odd how a company that doesn't have proper/required equipment, a secure lot, etc. Then let's not get into an owner and or employee (s) with a criminal record when the contract specifically disqualifies those companies, yet they are on rotation because they donated/supported the present administration. Please Explain

[brian991219]

I can personally attest to the good ole boy system being alive and well. The company that bough me out many years ago is in no way even remotely qualified to be on rotation, yet they are the only heavy duty provider in the entire county, and also get 80% or more of the light duty calls in the county. The owner himself can not respond to police calls due to a prior felony conviction for receiving stolen property, two of his "drivers' have suspended operator licenses and none have any formal training.

 

We have other, more qualified companies in the county, however they can't seem to get any calls, even now that Pennsylvania has switched from the old nearest available system to a modern rotation system, this one company still maintains the lion share of calls. Even after several consumer complaints of overcharging or other wrongdoing, that have be deemed substantiated by the Court system, he still gets to tow for the police.

 

Hell, this good ole boy network is what lead me to sell off the towing division in the first place, it was not worth the effort to be qualified only to get the table scraps. It has left me twisted a little, I admit, and makes me want a true legally binding contract, not just a serve at will position on a rotation with muddy, if any, regulations and a questionable oversight process. As highlighted by Randy's response, even in California, which is known for their detailed rotation standards and dedicated enforcement, corruption still seems to be rampant at all levels of police towing.

 

Albuquerque was another messed up rotation system, I was out there for two years after selling my operation in Pennsylvania. We had fairly clear rules to follow and the "Tow Boss" was fair, but the system was flawed. The city (and county) was divided into three sections and your company must have a physical presence in the section you wanted to tow for. If approved, you would get all the police calls in your section for 168 hours (1 week) then it would rotate to the next tower for a week and so on until it came back around to you. You could not be on the list for more than one section, had to be a separate company with separate equipment and drivers, although common ownership was permitted.

 

What would happen was towers would get set up with the Albuquerque city police, County Sheriff and the New Mexico State Police hoping their rotations would stay off-phase just enough that they didn't end up covering two agencies at the same time. They would also set up companies in other sectors, again hoping to not be on rotation in two sectors simultaneously, or set up multiple companies in the same sector to get more of the pie. This was where the system failed, they did not do a good job of making sure each company had unique drivers, thus allowing one owner to share drivers among several so called independent companies.

 

Had they simply rotated each call among the 8 to 10 companies in each sector everyone would have had plenty of work, no duplicate companies would need to be created and the companies that did it honest wouldn't be scrambling for revenue to keep their drivers fed during the weeks they were not on rotation. The heavy duty was even worse, you had the entire month and there were only two companies on rotation in two of the three sectors, so you had to be fully qualified yet may not get a single heavy police call for the entire month if it was the slow season.

 

Actually, had Albuquerque (and Bernalillo County) went to a per call rotation we would have likely went from 35-40 police tow companies down to 8 or 10 total, since the 35-40 companies were owned only by 8-10 individuals.

[rreschran]

In the end of Brian's message he eludes to "... so, you had to be fully qualified."

 

So, as it relates to the Good Ole' Boy Syndrome and companies serving law enforcement, what does, "fully qualified", mean anyway?

 

And, aside from the human element of tow bosses, persaonalities, emotions and politics, how can that be put to test? Ideas?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brian991219]

Randy,

 

My idea of "fully qualified" would be a tower that has appropriate equipment, manpower and training for the area(s) they serve. This would vary depending upon each Agency's needs, contract and expectations as well as whatever industry standards may be developed. Not to pick on the one truck chucks or those that work from home, that is how I got started as did many of us, but those days are long gone with liability issues being as complex as they are. Law enforcement towing should be the pinnacle of towing operations, something to strive for, if our industry ever wants to be seriously recognized as anything but highway janitors.

 

The same basic standards should also apply to the club towers, PPI and everyone else that uses a tow truck for-hire. Private fleets and dealers using towing equipment for transporting their own vehicles need not comply with anything other than safe loading and operating procedures, any one serving the public should have some sort of standard to meet before being permitted to operate for the safety of all involved. We can not expect the general public to know when a company they call is placing them in harms way, it is incumbent upon us within the industry to set the standards that insure safety and security for the public.

 

Lastly, I truly believe that by having industry standards that companies voluntarily comply with we will gain better recognition with legislators, perhaps even improving our position as we attempt to get favorable legislation passed to help us collect what we are due, prevent insurance dumping and more. Just as being I-Car certified in the collision business or being CAR certified in the recycling world guarantees a different interaction with the insurance companies, having a recognized towing certification should do the same for us.

 

Examples of fully qualified police towers would include the following;

• Proper TIMS/SHRP2 or other traffic incident training
• Mandatory use of appropriate personal protective equipment at all times
• Adequate skill level to perform the job duties developed thru training and practice, either in-house or 3rd party providers (WreckMaster, Wilburn/ATRI, Resch, CIRT, etc)
• Mandatory cross training with all other responding agencies (law, fire, ems, DOT, other contract towers)
• Independent certification thru either a towing board, TRAA or other 3rd party certification provider, extra certs for specialty services (haz-mat, crane, water recovery, etc)
• Enough basic equipment (wrecker, rollback, remediation equipment) to consistently meet peak volume of calls
• Specialty equipment as required by agency contract and/or local demand for quick clear, special terrain, etc (rotators, cranes, Landoll, dollies, forklifts, air bags, etc)
• Advanced remediation services available either by already in-place sub-contracts, agreement with DOT agency or other providers
• Secure, appropriately sized and located storage facilities, staffed as per agency contract
• Financial stability/resources to support operations while awaiting payment, ability to effectively settle claims for damages, meet payroll and other obligations
• Strict adherence to acceptable industry standards, local/state/federal regulations and agency contract guidelines
• Strict adherence to all Department of Labor (state and Federal) regulations, insurance requirements, payroll/minimum wage standards
• Clear, written operating policies and guidelines to guide all decisions for uniformity