A police authority, upon the authority’s own initiative or upon the request of any other authority having the duties of control of highways or traffic, shall take into custody an abandoned vehicle on public property and may take into custody any abandoned vehicle on private property. A police authority taking into custody an abandoned vehicle which has been determined to create a traffic hazard shall report the reasons constituting the hazard in writing to the appropriate authority having duties of control of the highway. The police authority may employ its own personnel, equipment and facilities or hire a private entity, equipment and facilities for the purpose of removing, preserving, storing or disposing of abandoned vehicles. If a police authority employs a private entity to dispose of abandoned vehicles, the police authority shall provide the private entity with the names and addresses of the registered owners, all lienholders of record and any other known claimant to the vehicle or the personal property found in the vehicle.
(Iowa Code § 321.89(2)) (1999 Code, § 80.02)