Welcome to Baltimore, citizen. Surrender your car. The City Department of Transportation sold 10,176 in the year ending June 30.
Of those, a few came from cars seized by police for drug and other crimes.
The vast majority are abandoned and disabled, according to Leif Dormsjo, chief of staff for the head of the department.
Many owners told The Examiner their vehicles were not abandoned or disabled in any way. So what gives?
Those involved in police investigations are supposed to be held.
The problem is not all are, and the agencies do not communicate effectively with one another.
For example, police seized Keith Spence?s car after arresting him for stealing it, despite the fact that he could prove he owned it. Yet the city sold it two months before he was cleared.
Obviously, communication between the police and the transportation department failed. They must explain why.
Soon.
That raises the question: If communication problems snarl the small fraction of cars in investigations, what happens with the thousands of others the city auctions?
According to the Department of Transportation, the city sends certified notices to owners of impounded vehicles.
If the owner acknowledges receipt, he or she has 11 days to claim it.
If the city does not receive a response, it advertises.
If it still does not receive a response, the city sells the car within 45 days.
One lawyer says some cars are sold within 30 days.
Many people are poor and lead transient lives, others lead busy lives, travel or might even be in the hospital.
People sell their cars to others, and the change of ownership is not exactly instantaneous. So that official time frame does not make sense.
It means notices sent to Motor Vehicle Administration listed addresses may not reach car owners in time, if at all.
Baltimore should extend the time citizens can retrieve their cars.
What the city does now essentially is seize private property without due process.
Not even kings could do that. Only despots can now. Is Baltimore in America or not?
