Birmingham Police officials say that a towing service widely criticized for rude, and some say “predatory” behavior, has broken no laws.

Parking Enforcement Systems, a towing service which pulls vehicles from downtown lots, and which is a target of numerous complaints over its encounters with members of the public, has not violated city ordinances governing towing services, said Sgt. Monica Law of the Birmingham Police Department.

“The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed some incident reports that we have regarding [Parking Enforcement Systems],” Law said. “They don’t see anything that appears to document a direct violation of the ordinance. There were incidents where a community member felt an employee was rude or failed to give information.”

The lengthy city ordinance governing towing services has a provision that lists several reasons the city council can revoke a license for a towing operation. One of those reasons is that “The licensee, his agent, servant, or employee has operated the business in such a manner as to be detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare or so as to constitute a nuisance.”

While Parking Enforcement has racked up a substantial number of social media complaints, and even Birmingham Police incident reports touching on the behavior of its drivers and towing lot attendants, apparently, thus far, the company has not met the threshold of being “a nuisance,” as the city legal department defines it.

“The statute … describes what it would take for the business to be considered a nuisance,” Law said. “People may be taking complaints about the business directly to the business. If there are complaints about the business they may direct them to us (BPD) or City Hall.

“While we would prefer all businesses to operate with respect and kindness we recognize that some complaints were about rudeness and that is largely subjective on how it is defined.”

As reported recently in The Lede and AL.com, Parking Enforcement Systems, which has towing contracts with numerous downtown lots, has been in the news recently, not only because of the large number of complaints offered on social media sites like Yelp, Nextdoor, and Facebook, but because of a fatal shooting at the lot where towed vehicles are stored.

Adarius Jamar Peterson, 29, of Birmingham, who was found dead inside the fence at the Parking Enforcement Systems lot at 2605 5th Ave. South on Sept. 29, 2022. Police said that Peterson, who had a car at the lot, had an encounter with a Parking Enforcement employee that resulted in his being fatally shot. A tow truck driver was initially detained, but not charged after the District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide.

As noted in a previous story, Helen Hays, who works downtown, said that when her car was towed to the same storage lot Dec. 23, the attendant flashed a gun when she went to pick it up.

Other Birmingham residents have since come forward to share negative encounters with Parking Enforcement Systems. For example, William Fitzpatrick said that, “I had my car towed in early December. The reason for my car being towed? I was told that one letter on my license plates was incorrect on the Park Mobile App and they claimed that this gave them the right to tow my car.”

Park Mobile, the provider of an app used to pay for parking in downtown lots, is not connected to Parking Enforcement Systems’ towing operation.

Fitzpatrick said that when he went to pick up his car at Parking Enforcement Systems’ storage lot, within 10 minutes, five other groups of people arrived to pick up their towed vehicles.

He said that while he could afford to pay, “I also know that there are many more others out there that do not, and this $165 charge really puts them in a bind. I have heard of elderly couples who have had to deal with the same nonsense I did late at night and in a dangerous area. Mothers with young kids. You name it,” he said.

Fitzpatrick, who described the towing operation as “predatory” said his experience has impacted his regard for the city of Birmingham.

“Because of these predatory towing practices that the City of Birmingham seems totally ok with, I have stopped going downtown for entertainment and going out to eat,” Fitzpatrick said. “I have notified Mayor Woodfin’s office about this and have received no response. This is really a shame because businesses are now being punished because of the borderline criminal behavior that the City of Birmingham allows.

“I will no longer go downtown while this practice continues. My wife and I spend quite a bit of money going out to eat, so sooner or later, the city will feel the effects of this nonsense.”

An official with Parking Enforcement Systems would not comment for this story.