In some cases, it can take up to six months for an abandoned vehicle to be removed from private property in Juneau. The Juneau Police Department can dramatically speed up that process, JPD Deputy Chief David Campbell said, but it’s going to require additional staffing.
Campbell presented to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole on Wednesday, laying out a new plan for disposing of abandoned vehicles. Campbell said the number of abandoned vehicles is rising in Juneau, and all kinds of vehicles — cars, buses and even boats — are being left all over the city.
Currently, some property owners are handling abandoned vehicles on their property by going through the Department of Motor Vehicles, which can take about six months. If JPD took over in these cases, Campbell said, the process could be shortened to about two weeks.
There are two scenarios where this happens, Campbell explained, and both deal with vehicles that are left on private property for more than 24 hours. If a Community Service Officer from the department can’t find a registered owner of the vehicle, the property owner is responsible for going through the DMV process. If a CSO finds the owner and the owner refuses to move the vehicle, the owner is fined and the property owner is responsible for going through the DMV process.
“It’s a long time and during that long time, during that wait, the vehicle continues to be an eyesore and it continues to be a nuisance,” Campbell said during the meeting.
Having JPD in charge of this would be a greater service to property owners, Campbell said, but it would put more strain on the department’s resources. From May 2017 to May 2018, he said, the department impounded 187 cars. CSO Bob Dilley estimated that JPD would deal with at least an extra 100 vehicles per year if it takes over this new role.
This additional work would likely require two more staff members, Campbell said. One more CSO, Campbell said, would get a salary of about $90,000 per year. One more administrative assistant for the JPD records unit to process the additional paperwork would have a salary of about $68,000 per year.
Campbell also said JPD’s lot for impounded vehicles would have to be expanded due to the increase in vehicles.
The Assembly members agreed that it’s an issue they should look into more. They voted to direct city staff to bring them more information about the costs and options that are associated with removing abandoned vehicles. Campbell and City Attorney Robert Palmer said there might be a more affordable approach in the city’s code that they can use in some cases.
Mayor Ken Koelsch was particularly vocal about his frustration, saying he believes this problem needs to be addressed.
In an interview after the meeting, Campbell said Koelsch has been vocal for a few months about how irritated he is with the abandoned vehicles around town. Campbell and JPD Chief Ed Mercer said the City Manager’s Office contacted the department about two months ago and asked if they could look into what it would take for the department to undertake this.
Campbell said the top priority for the department at this moment is hiring and retaining officers. Campbell said they’ve presented to the Assembly multiple times recently about this need. As of earlier this summer, the department was short by eight officers. That’s an improvement from a shortage of 12 officers last year, but Campbell said the officer shortage is still the main issue the department is facing.
“While I appreciate the fact that there is a problem out there with junk vehicles out there on private property,” Campbell said, “the No. 1 issue is officer staffing.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
