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Detroit —After watching the Detroit Tigers’ 2011 Opening Day victory, Brian Harris walked back to the spot on Woodward where he’d parked a few hours earlier. His 2006 Ford F-150 was gone, impounded as an abandoned vehicle.

“I wasn’t in a no-parking zone, and my plates weren’t expired,” said Harris of St. Clair Shores. “Everything was legal. It’s like they’re just picking up cars whenever they want.”

Controversy has swirled around Metro Detroit’s police towing operations for years. In Detroit, where towers have been without formal contracts since 2002, the city’s auditor general has accused tow companies of stealing cars, fleecing customers and maintaining questionable records. Citizens regularly complain their vehicles were improperly impounded.

With the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners set to vote in February on new rules to revamp the process, there’s been a flurry of lawsuits, company restructuring and complaints about corruption.

“It’s like the Wild West,” said Phyllis Hernandez, owner of Casino Towing, one of the companies vying for the city’s towing business. “There are so many shady things going on, right out in the open, and it just keeps happening.”………………………………………………………………………………………………………… More >