Kevin Keenan, executive director of the ACLU in San Diego, speaks to reporters Tuesday morning. EDWARD SIFUENTES | esifuentes@nctimes.com
The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties sent a second letter to Escondido city officials asking for information and financial records about Escondido's auto impounding and checkpoint practices, which the civil rights group says might be violating state law.
Officials with the ACLU also repeated their request for an independent analysis of the city's impound and checkpoint programs, which they first made last month.
On Friday, the city released an internal audit, which city officials said demonstrated its fees ---- to drivers and towing companies ---- were justified.
City Manager Clay Phillips said Tuesday in a prepared statement that if the ACLU wants an audit, it will have to pay for it.
"We would welcome an independent audit of our towing program fees, but not at the expense of Escondido taxpayers," Phillips said. "Should the ACLU or any other organization wish to hire a mutually agreed independent auditor, we will be happy to cooperate with them."
Phillips was unavailable for questions Tuesday, according to his assistant.
Kevin Keenan, executive director of the ACLU in San Diego, said the group was asking for donations to pay for a possible audit.
ACLU officials held a news conference Tuesday morning in San Diego, where they showed reporters several stacks of documents the organization received from the city through a records request. Keenan said the ACLU received more than 3,200 pages of documents, including towing contracts and checkpoint grant applications, but none of them provided answers to the organization's questions.
"Residents of Escondido have a right to transparency and accountability," Keenan said. "Is the city of Escondido violating transparency laws requiring it to produce public documents or is it violating state accountability laws requiring revenue reporting and prohibiting profit-making?"
A spokesman for the state agency that provides grants for checkpoints said Escondido was not violating grant regulations.
The ACLU released a report last month raising questions about the checkpoints and towing fees based on an investigation conducted by Los Angeles-based documentary filmmaker John Carlos Frey.
The report said the investigation uncovered city documents that indicate the total costs of towing vehicles skyrocketed from 2004 to 2011. For example, the report said that the city used questionable accounting methods to justify the $450,000 it receives in towing contracts from six companies, including increasing the amount of time required to process each vehicle that police impound.
Frey said his investigation uncovered documents that appeared to add line items that were not in previous cost estimates, raising the amount of time required to tow a vehicle from 33 minutes in 2004 to 187 minutes in 2011.
However, the city released additional documents on Monday showing the city had calculated the number of minutes required for each tow was 225 in 2003, 210 in 2006 and 2007, and up to 285 in 2010.
In its analysis, the city reported Friday that it took up to 200 minutes of staff time to impound a vehicle, including 45 minutes of officer time when an impound results in an arrest. City officials could not be reached Tuesday to clarify the apparent difference in the numbers.
ACLU officials said they did not receive any of the documents detailing the time estimates produced by the city to justify its towing fees.
The city also charges drivers a $180 impound processing fee before they can recover their vehicles. The impound fees generated $365,000 in fiscal year 2010-11, $439,000 in 2009-10 and $509,000 in 2008-09, according to the city's analysis.
The state's Office of Traffic Safety provides Escondido more than $250,000 a year to conduct driver's license and sobriety checkpoints. According to the ACLU, the city's checkpoints netted about 13 percent of the vehicles towed in 2009-10.
City officials said the $180 fee was reduced to $100 for vehicles impounded during grant-funded checkpoints.
According to the city's analysis, the number of impounds charged the lower $100 fee was 660 vehicles in 2009-10, or roughly 15 percent of the 4,413 vehicles impounded that fiscal year.
Frey and ACLU officials said the city appears to be illegally profiting from the grant-funded checkpoints by boosting the number of vehicles towed and increasing the value of towing contracts. Tow companies who contract with the city charge drivers separate towing and storage fees.
Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the state's Office of Traffic Safety, said Tuesday the agency has looked at the allegations that Escondido was illegally profiting from the towing contracts, and found no wrongdoing under grant regulations. The money awarded to city for checkpoints comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is governed by federal regulations.
Cochran said his agency asked the federal government for clarification and were told that "fees collected for towing and storage as part of a legal law enforcement action are not program income."
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/escondido-aclu-presses-city-for-independent-checkpoint-towing-audit/article_daa2bf53-d0e8-5d60-8267-9859e426ce82.html#ixzz1r2RhDrngOfficials with the ACLU also repeated their request for an independent analysis of the city's impound and checkpoint programs, which they first made last month.
On Friday, the city released an internal audit, which city officials said demonstrated its fees ---- to drivers and towing companies ---- were justified.
City Manager Clay Phillips said Tuesday in a prepared statement that if the ACLU wants an audit, it will have to pay for it.
"We would welcome an independent audit of our towing program fees, but not at the expense of Escondido taxpayers," Phillips said. "Should the ACLU or any other organization wish to hire a mutually agreed independent auditor, we will be happy to cooperate with them."
Phillips was unavailable for questions Tuesday, according to his assistant.
Kevin Keenan, executive director of the ACLU in San Diego, said the group was asking for donations to pay for a possible audit.
ACLU officials held a news conference Tuesday morning in San Diego, where they showed reporters several stacks of documents the organization received from the city through a records request. Keenan said the ACLU received more than 3,200 pages of documents, including towing contracts and checkpoint grant applications, but none of them provided answers to the organization's questions.
"Residents of Escondido have a right to transparency and accountability," Keenan said. "Is the city of Escondido violating transparency laws requiring it to produce public documents or is it violating state accountability laws requiring revenue reporting and prohibiting profit-making?"
A spokesman for the state agency that provides grants for checkpoints said Escondido was not violating grant regulations.
The ACLU released a report last month raising questions about the checkpoints and towing fees based on an investigation conducted by Los Angeles-based documentary filmmaker John Carlos Frey.
The report said the investigation uncovered city documents that indicate the total costs of towing vehicles skyrocketed from 2004 to 2011. For example, the report said that the city used questionable accounting methods to justify the $450,000 it receives in towing contracts from six companies, including increasing the amount of time required to process each vehicle that police impound.
Frey said his investigation uncovered documents that appeared to add line items that were not in previous cost estimates, raising the amount of time required to tow a vehicle from 33 minutes in 2004 to 187 minutes in 2011.
However, the city released additional documents on Monday showing the city had calculated the number of minutes required for each tow was 225 in 2003, 210 in 2006 and 2007, and up to 285 in 2010.
In its analysis, the city reported Friday that it took up to 200 minutes of staff time to impound a vehicle, including 45 minutes of officer time when an impound results in an arrest. City officials could not be reached Tuesday to clarify the apparent difference in the numbers.
ACLU officials said they did not receive any of the documents detailing the time estimates produced by the city to justify its towing fees.
The city also charges drivers a $180 impound processing fee before they can recover their vehicles. The impound fees generated $365,000 in fiscal year 2010-11, $439,000 in 2009-10 and $509,000 in 2008-09, according to the city's analysis.
The state's Office of Traffic Safety provides Escondido more than $250,000 a year to conduct driver's license and sobriety checkpoints. According to the ACLU, the city's checkpoints netted about 13 percent of the vehicles towed in 2009-10.
City officials said the $180 fee was reduced to $100 for vehicles impounded during grant-funded checkpoints.
According to the city's analysis, the number of impounds charged the lower $100 fee was 660 vehicles in 2009-10, or roughly 15 percent of the 4,413 vehicles impounded that fiscal year.
Frey and ACLU officials said the city appears to be illegally profiting from the grant-funded checkpoints by boosting the number of vehicles towed and increasing the value of towing contracts. Tow companies who contract with the city charge drivers separate towing and storage fees.
Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the state's Office of Traffic Safety, said Tuesday the agency has looked at the allegations that Escondido was illegally profiting from the towing contracts, and found no wrongdoing under grant regulations. The money awarded to city for checkpoints comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is governed by federal regulations.
Cochran said his agency asked the federal government for clarification and were told that "fees collected for towing and storage as part of a legal law enforcement action are not program income."
Call staff writer Edward Sifuentes at 760-740-3511.