The NYPD is regularly towing unmarked police cars - leaving detectives stranded on the street with no way to transport suspects in handcuffs, the Daily News has learned.


Quote from the article:

Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said tow operators working for the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau are meeting their daily quota - four tows and 20 summonses - by towing detectives who are legally parked or who have no choice but to double-park. Recently, a Brooklyn detective investigating the hit-and-run that left a staffer for Mayor Bloomberg in a coma was called to the district attorney's office. When the detective left the meeting, his car was gone, Palladino said. Palladino said unjustified tows have occurred while one or more detectives were: - Arresting a Bronx murder suspect. - Escorting a frightened witness to a Brooklyn murder scene. - Notifying a murder victim's relatives and arranging to take them to the precinct. - Arresting a burglary suspect - who laughed when the detectives realized their car was gone. "It's embarrassing," Palladino said. "It takes our detectives four to six hours, often on overtime, to get the car back. In the meantime, another detective has to be called to come pick up the detectives who are stranded, or that third detective has to drive to court, or wherever, with the other two detectives and wait in the car."

Source: Towed away while making a bust: NYPD detectives irked as unmarked cars are hauled off