Qusetion: Cod Bay is a summer resort community. Its winter population of 19,000 expands to 60,000 in the summer and the Cod Bay Police Department has problems controlling summer visitors. One persistent problem is illegal parking. Because there are numerous complaints from year-round residents about parking, the Cod Bay Police Chief arranged with several towing companies to tow all illegally parked cars to the police station parking lot. The towing companies did a brisk business, particularly on weekends, when the town was inundated with visitors.

Part-time police officers, who were not professionally trained, were hired by the department to work weekends and were assigned to the downtown area specifically to enforce parking laws. All violators were towed; no one escaped the watchful eyes of the part-time downtown patrol officers, who were occasionally over-zealous in their enforcement activities and who perceived some of the parking violators as wanton criminals. In their desire to carry out departmental policy and to compete for tows with fellow officers assigned to the same task, they occasionally made mistakes and towed cars that were not illegally parked.

Having one's car towed can be a traumatic experience, particularly if the car is not illegally parked. On one such occasion, an irate young man came to the police station to claim his car, a matter that involve paying the towing company a modest fee. Refusing to pay the fee, the young man asked to see the sergeant in charge. The burly sergeant was predisposed to dislike irate young men. At first, the sergeant attempted to determine the facts, and he summoned the part-time patrol officer back to the station to get his side of the story. After listening to the stories of the patrol officer and the young man, the sergeant realized that the young man's car had been legally parked. But even so, the sergeant sided with the patrol officer and informed the young man that if he wanted his car back, he would have to pay the tow charge. The man refused, and a shouting match, precipitated by the sergeant, developed. When the man was told to leave the station, he demanded what he knew were his rights. He was told that if he did not leave the station, he would be arrested. Finally, he was taken bodily from the station by the patrol officer, who pushed him down a flight of steps to the sidewalk. The man regained his equilibrium and quietly walked off into the night, beaten by the system. He returned later, paid the fee, and reclaimed his car."