For over 60 years, Official Police Garage’s (OPG’s) have served the towing needs of the City of Los Angeles. As the second most populous city in the United States and with an immense geographic size of 465 square miles, the City of Los Angeles must take the unique characteristics of the city into consideration when addressing problems or challenges.

Located in the heart of Southern California, the City of Los Angeles recognizes the significant car culture in the City. There are 6400 miles of streets, 40,000 intersections and 160 miles of freeways within Los Angeles, which makes it necessary for the city to implement a well organized strategic plan to handle the removal and storage of evidentiary and statutory impounds, vehicles parked illegally and those involved in accidents. Key to the success of the removal and storage of these vehicles are the OPG’s. Due to the large geographic layout of the city, there are 18 contracted OPG’s throughout the City of Los Angeles.

The OPG’s are responsible for all requests for towing and storage service to the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Transportation, Harbor, Airport, Los Angeles Unified School District and Housing Police, among other City Departments. The OPG’s provide 24-hour service to the City, while collectively employing over 500 employees. In addition over 200 trucks and over 90 acres of storage facilities are available to serve the City’s needs under any circumstances.

Before the OPG’s were organized in 1938, there was no system in place for clearing traffic accidents in Los Angeles. The City appointed a citizens’ committee to come up with a solution. The City leaders recognized the need for a responsible and cost effective system that could be summoned at a moment’s notice to clear an accident, help enforce public parking ordinances, protect stolen and recovered vehicles or impound those vehicles used in criminal activities. Rather than spending hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase equipment and commercial property required by state law for such a mammoth responsibility, the City turned to the private sector to provide these essential services.

To ensure that a uniform standard of quality and efficiency for those services was established and maintained, the City empowered the Los Angeles Police Commission to oversee, regulate and set the rules and regulations under which the service would be rendered. The Police Commission’s, Commission Investigation Division (CID) is responsible for the regulation of towing, storage and all fees levied by the OPG’s. CID also investigates and adjudicates any complaint received by the public, Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Transportation and all the other City agencies, and maintains files on each OPG for contract compliance. State, Civil and Vehicle Codes also govern the OPG’s as they relate to the impounding and disposition of vehicles.