(A) Generally. The city, including the city’s Police Department, may tow motor vehicles from real property which are deemed a public safety hazard pursuant to § 91.17, or are derelict junk, scrapped, disassembled, or otherwise harmful to the public health. The city shall perform such tow pursuant to the terms of § 91.21. When a city agency other than the Police Department authorizes a tow under this division (A), it shall report the tow to the Police Department within two hours with a crime inquiry and inspection report. Provided, however, that no vehicle shall be towed from any private property without the consent of the owner of the real estate or an administrative search warrant.
(B) Towing authorized by city’s Police Department. If a person abandons property on any real property owned by another without the consent of the owner or person in possession of the real property, at the request of the person in possession of the real property, any city police officer may authorize a towing company to remove such abandoned property from the property in the following circumstances:
(1) The abandoned property is left unattended for more than 48 hours; or
(2) In the judgment of a Police Officer, the abandoned property constitutes a safety hazard or unreasonably interferes with the use of the real property by the person in possession.
(C) Towing authorized by real property owner, lessee, or property or security manager.
(1) The owner of real property or lessee in lawful possession of the real property or the property or security manager of the real property may authorize a towing company to remove abandoned property or property parked in a restricted or assigned area without authorization by a law enforcement officer only when the owner, lessee, or property or security manager of the real property is present. A property or security manager must be a full-time employee of a business entity. An authorization to tow pursuant to this division (C) may be made only under any of the following circumstances.
(a) Sign. There is displayed, in plain view at all entrances to the property, a sign not less than 17 by 22 inches in size, with lettering not less than one inch in height, prohibiting public parking and indicating that unauthorized abandoned property or property parked in a restricted or assigned area will be removed at the owner’s expense, disclosing the maximum fee for all charges related to towing and storage, and containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency where information can be obtained or a 24 hour staffed emergency information telephone number by which the owner of the abandoned property or property parked in a restricted or assigned area may call to receive information regarding the location of such owner’s property.
(b) Unattended on owner-occupied residential property. The abandoned property is left unattended on owner-occupied residential property with four residential units or less and the owner, lessee, or agent of the real property in lawful possession has notified the city’s Police Department, and ten hours have elapsed since that notification.
(c) Unattended on other private real property. The abandoned property is left unattended on private real property, and the owner, lessee, or agent of the real property in lawful possession of real property has notified the city’s Police Department, and 96 hours have elapsed since that notification.
(2) Pursuant to this section, any owner or lessee in lawful possession of real property that requests a towing company to tow abandoned property without authorization from a city police officer shall at that time complete an abandoned property report, which shall be considered a legal declaration subject to criminal penalty pursuant to RSMo. § 575.060. The report shall be in the form designed, printed, and distributed by the state’s Director of Revenue and shall contain the following:
(a) The year, model, make, and abandoned property identification number of the property, and the owner and any lienholders, if known;
(b) A description of any damage to the abandoned property noted by owner, lessee, or property or security manager in possession of the real property;
(c) The license plate or registration number and the state of issuance, if available;
(d) The physical location of the property and the reason for requesting the property to be towed;
(e) The date the report is completed;
(f) The printed name, address, and telephone number of the owner, lessee, or property or security manager in possession of the real property;
(g) The towing company’s name and address;
(h) The signature of the towing operator;
(i) The signature of the owner, lessee, or property or security manager attesting to the facts that the property has been abandoned for the time required by this section and that all statements on the report are true and correct to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief and that the person is subject to the penalties for making false statements;
(j) Space for the name of the law enforcement agency notified of the abandoned property and for the signature of the law enforcement official receiving the report; and
(k) Any additional information the state’s Director of Revenue deems appropriate.
(3) Any towing company which tows abandoned property without authorization from the city’s Police Department pursuant to division (B) above shall deliver a copy of the abandoned property report to the city’s Police Department. The copy may be produced and sent by facsimile machine or other device which produces a near exact likeness of the print and signatures required, but only if the city’s Police Department has the technological capability of receiving such copy and has registered the towing company for such purpose. The report shall be delivered within two hours if the tow was made from a signed location pursuant to division (C)(1)(a) above, otherwise the report shall be delivered within 24 hours.
(4) The city’s Police Department, after receiving such abandoned property report, shall record the date on which the abandoned property report is filed with the Police Department and shall promptly make an inquiry into the national crime information center (NCIC) and any statewide law enforcement computer system to determine if the abandoned property has been reported as stolen. The Police Department shall enter the information pertaining to the towed property into the statewide law enforcement computer system and a police officer shall sign the abandoned property report and provide the towing company with a signed copy.
(5) The city’s Police Department, after receiving notification that abandoned property has been towed by a towing company, shall search the records of the state’s Department of Revenue and provide the towing company with the latest owner and lienholder information on the abandoned property. If the abandoned property is not claimed within ten working days, the towing company shall send a copy of the abandoned property report signed by a law enforcement officer to the Department of Revenue.
(6) No owner, lessee, or property or security manager of real property shall knowingly authorize the removal of abandoned property in violation of this section.
(7) Any owner of any private real property causing the removal of abandoned property from that real property shall state the grounds for the removal of the abandoned property if requested by the registered owner of that abandoned property. Any towing company that lawfully removes abandoned property from private property with the written authorization of the property owner or the property owner’s agent who is present at the time of removal shall not be held responsible in any situation relating to the validity of the removal. Any towing company that removes abandoned property at the direction of the landowner shall be responsible for:
(a) Any damage caused by the towing company to the property in the transit and subsequent storage of the property; and
(b) The removal of property other than the property specified by the owner of the private real property from which the abandoned property was removed.
(D) Damage to property. The owner of abandoned property removed from private real property may recover for any damage to the property resulting from any act of any person causing the removal of, or removing, the abandoned property.
(E) Real property owner liability. Any owner of any private real property causing the removal of abandoned property parked on that property is liable to the owner of the abandoned property for double the storage or towing charges whenever there has been a failure to comply with the requirements of this subchapter.
(F) Written authorization required; delegation of authority to tow.
(1) Except for the removal of abandoned property authorized by the city’s Police Department pursuant to this section, a towing company shall not remove or commence the removal of abandoned property from private real property without first obtaining written authorization from the real property owner. All written authorizations shall be maintained for at least one year by the towing company.
(2) General authorization to remove or commence removal of abandoned property at the towing company’s discretion shall not be delegated to a towing company or its affiliates except in the case of abandoned property unlawfully parked within 15 feet of a fire hydrant or in a fire lane designated by a Fire Department or the State Fire Marshal.
(G) Towing company liability. Any towing company, or any affiliate of a towing company, which removes, or commences removal of, abandoned property from private property without first obtaining written authorization from the property owner or lessee, or any employee or agent thereof, who is present at the time of removal or commencement of the removal, except as permitted in division (F) above, is liable to the owner of the property for four times the amount of the towing and storage charges, in addition to any applicable ordinance violation penalty, for a violation of this section.
Statutory reference:
Similar provisions, see RSMo. §§ 304.157.1, 304.157.2, 304.157.4 to 304.157.9, 304.158.2 to 304.158.4, 304.158.8, and 304.158.9
(Ord. 304, passed 8-1-2000) Penalty, see § 91.99