RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program reported that in 2004 there were 7,369 cases of motor vehicle theft in Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, for every car stolen there are multiple victims, including the car's owner, family members, and all who depend on the vehicle for transportation to work, school, medical appointments, or for business; and

WHEREAS, during fiscal year 2003-2004, over 30,000 vehicles were investigated as being abandoned or derelict and, in that same time period, 7,930 of those vehicles were towed to a storage facility to either be claimed by the owner or sold at public auction if unclaimed after three months; and

WHEREAS, an owner of a stolen vehicle, which had been towed to a storage facility is responsible for paying the towing fees, which can be close to $200 to recover the property that was illegally taken from the owner; and

WHEREAS, requiring a victim of theft to pay for the return of the victim's own property is simply "rubbing salt into their wound"; and

WHEREAS, running a check on a vehicle's identification number when the vehicle is being inspected as derelict, abandoned, or illegally parked would be an efficient way to discover if the vehicle had been stolen and allow the victim of that theft to claim the victim's vehicle prior to having it towed; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature hereby requests and urges the Honolulu Police Department to check the vehicle's status prior to towing to ensure that the towing fee of the stolen vehicle will not be passed on to the victim

; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and Honolulu Police Department.

Report Title:

Urging the Honolulu Police Department to check vehicle status prior to towing to ensure towing fees on stolen vehicles will not be passed on to the victims.