(Amended by Ord. No 151,833, Eff. 2/10/79, Oper. 2/25/79.)
(a) Police Officers and civilian employees of the Department of Transportation designated as Traffic Officers for purposes of this section are hereby authorized to remove from highways, streets or alleys within the City of Los Angeles to the nearest garage or other place of safety designated or maintained by the Police Department, any vehicle which has been parked or left standing on such highway, street or alley for 72 or more consecutive hours.
(b) Whenever a Police Officer or Traffic Officer removes a vehicle from a street or highway as authorized in this section and the officer knows or is able to ascertain from the registration records in the vehicle or from the registration records of the California Department of Motor Vehicles the name and address of the owner thereof, such Police Officer or Traffic Officer shall immediately give or cause to be given notice in writing to such owner of the fact of such removal, the grounds thereof and of the place to which such vehicle has been removed. In the event any such vehicle is stored in a public garage, a copy of such notice shall be given to the proprietor of such garage.
(c) Whenever a Police Officer or Traffic Officer removing a vehicle from a street or highway under this section does not know and is not able to ascertain the name of the owner or for any other reason is unable to give the notice to the owner as hereinbefore provided, and in the event the vehicle is not returned to the owner within a period of 120 hours, then and in that event the Police Officer or Traffic Officer shall immediately send or cause to be sent written report of such removal by mail to the Department of Motor Vehicles at Sacramento and shall file a copy of such notice with the proprietor of any public garage in which the vehicle may be stored. Such report shall be made on a form furnished by such department and shall include a complete description of the vehicle the date, time and place from which removed, the grounds for such removal and the name of the garage or place where the vehicle is stored.
(d) Police Officers and Traffic Officers are hereby authorized to remove from streets or highways within the City of Los Angeles to the nearest garage or other place of safety, or to a garage or other place of safety designated or maintained by the Police Department, any vehicle which has been parked or left standing in violation of an official sign prohibiting the stopping or parking of vehicles and giving notice that such vehicle may be removed.
(e) Whenever a vehicle is removed from the streets of the City and stored as authorized by Subsection (d) above, or is stored as permitted and provided for in California Vehicle Code Section 22852, the provisions for a post–storage hearing as set forth in said Vehicle Code section shall be implemented. (Added by Ord. No. 164,041, Eff. 10/21/88.)