The Prince George’s County Council is considering legislation Tuesday that would crack down on the “predatory practices” of car-towing companies, county officials said.

The legislation would cap towing charges and is a result of numerous complaints from county residents about high towing fees, few regulations and a lack of coordination between the towing companies and police, county delegate Doyle L. Niemann said.

Cars towed from this university would not be affected because towing charges are already below the $100 cap the legislation would introduce. However, many students, faculty and staff live and park in the county.

Junior government and politics major Maggie Luther had to pay $600 to get her truck and trailer back after Continental Towing towed it from outside her Bowie apartment earlier this year.

Luther said she started monitoring Continental Towing and saw the company stake out parking lots and tow cars just after they were parked illegally. Her investigative work helped bring the problem to the attention of Prince George’s County Police Detective Brian Padgett of the Auto Crimes Task Force.

When Luther first called police, she said they seemed clueless about towing regulations. “They looked at me like I was just wasting my time, like, ‘Why did you call us out here?'” she said.

Padgett said a lack of a central unit to investigate tow-truck crime has exacerbated the problem.

“It gets frustrating for the citizens, for me, for everybody because nobody really knows what to do and where to go,” he said. “We just have to create a unit strictly to investigate tow companies. It’s a full-time, everyday job.”

Towing companies are supposed to report their practices to the county police department but rarely do, Niemann said. Over the years, numerous county residents have complained about high towing fees, but the county had not considered capping fees until now, he added.

The legislation will affect companies that have contracts with police and non-contracted companies that tow for the general public, Padgett said. Police-contracted companies already have a cap of $125 for towing and $35 for storage and are legally bound to report cars they tow, he said.

Non-contracted companies that serve the general public and have no cap but are also expected to report their activities so police can help notify individuals whose cars have been towed, Padgett said. However, the majority don’t because there are no criminal consequences for not doing so, he said.

Senior government and politics major Marlene Rivas said she’s experienced the frustration when police and tow companies don’t interact.

Rivas said her car had been towed from a 24-hour lot near Shoppers Food Warehouse on Cherry Hill and called police to find out where it was. They had no idea it had been towed. When she called A & S Towing in College Park to pick it up, she was forced to pay $220 in cash to get it back.

Terrence Ross, owner of R & R Towing and Recovery in Bladensburg, said while companies like Continental Towing should be punished for their behavior, it is unfair for the county to pass legislation that would impact the entire industry.

“It will definitely affect us, but I guess you do whatever you have to do to get people like them out of here,” Ross said. “But, I don’t think everybody should be punished for one company’s wrongdoing.”

Sharon Baldwin, an employee of Preferred Towing Inc. in Beltsville, echoed Ross’s opinion.

“They should be penalized, but why should we pay the price for another company’s dishonesty?” Baldwin said. “They should get a fine, but instead the honest companies get penalized for a dishonest company. That’s just really sucky.”

In contrast, the university will not be affected because its towing fees are lower than the proposed cap, said University Police spokeswoman Cathy Atwell. Each tow from the university costs about $60, she said.

University Police contracts with Past and Present Towing and Recovering Inc. every three years to do all the campus towing, Atwell said.

The proposed legislation will allow police to charge companies with a criminal offense and will hopefully increase the amount of communication between companies and police, Padgett said. But Padgett also said he doubts the legislation will be foolproof.

“But no matter how much rules you put in effect, you’re always going to have people trying to get by or make extra money on the side by doing illegal activities,” Padgett said.

Contact reporter Roxana Hadadi at roxanadbk@gmail.com.