The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "impound" ...
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Breach of Faith
The investigation revealed extensive corruption in the city of Bell, California. The city's chief administrative officer was receiving a total compensation of $1.5 million -- probably the highest pay for that job anywhere in the country. The assistant city manager, police chief, and part-time council members had exorbitant salaries as well. The city was also illegally raising taxes and giving police daily impound quotas to boost revenue.
Tags: corruption; city government; salary; city funds; revenue
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St. Louis Towing Scandal
This is a series of pieces Mahr, Hunn and Kohler wrote looking into the relationship between the St. Louis Police Department and a private tow lot, St. Louis Metropolitan Towing. The lot illegally kept and sold several cars that police impounded during investigations. The lot also lent and sold several cars to the St. Louis police chief's daughter. The series includes short personal stories about people whose cars were taken by the lot.
Tags: towing; police corruption; private contracts; public-private partnership; Joe Mokwa; sweetheart deals
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Bricker's Tow
A KGO-TV hidden camera investigation showed a towing company repeatedly towing cars illegally.
Tags: San Francisco; California; Bricker's Tow; towing; trucks; illegal; cars; impound; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Gone in 60 seconds
KNXV-TV investigates a rumor that "Mexican authorities don't act swiftly in returning stolen American cars." The story reveals that Phoenix has the highest auto theft rate nationwide, and that many of the stolen cars are indeed sitting in Mexican impound lots.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; automobiles; car owners; insurance; Nogales; Sonora; Mexico; vehicles; police
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Impound Lot
A report on the City of Baltimore's impound lot and why many motorists were getting their cars back with major damage. The investigation found that the city's negligence was costing taxpayers more than a half million dollars per year in damage claims from citizens.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; City of Baltimore; impound lot; towed cars; city negligence; damage claims
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City's two-truck justice: Unfair tool or deterrent?
The Post-Intelligencer's computer analysis of 1,979 impound cases from January through May shows there is some legitimacy to complaints that the law is having unintended consequences.
Tags: CAR; driver's license; Seattle police; Operation Impound; poor
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The Truth About Towing
The Chicago Tribune Magazine reports on the city tow truck business. In a department competing with newly privatized towing contracts and dealing with scandals involving the stripping of impounded cars, one reporter spends some time riding with a tow truck driver to see the story from the inside out. For tow truck drivers, towing illegally parked cars is just business; for citizens it's expensive, embarrassing and inconvenient. However, these city employees who are just doing their job are a dying breed; they're being replaced by guys for whom the number of cars towed is directly linked to the amount of money they make.
Tags: towing; privatization
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"City fights revealing settlement" and others
The Union-News, Sunday Republican reports that "What began as a routine press conference with the mayor of Springfield, Mass., became a three-month battle between the city and our newspaper over the public's right to know how much the city was paying in out-of-court settlements. As a result, the Union-News won two precedent-setting rulings in both state and federal court and gained access to information that has been withheld from the public for more than nine years. ..."
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No title (id: 12620)
The Times conducts an investigation in the wake of East Chicago's mayoral primary. East Chicago is a one-party, patronage-driven town which has had the same mayor for 24 years. Mayor Robert Pastrick also serves as county chairman of the Democratic Party. (May 5, 1995 - Dec. 24, 1995)
Tags: Lazarus East Chicago election materials impounded Contest entry 63 pgs.
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No title (id: 7411)
Chicago Reporter finds city offers no deterrent to illegal garbage dumping in mostly black wards on the city's south and west sides; dumping poses environmental threat to nearby residents; courts fail to impose stiff fines or impound vehicles used in illegal operations, June 1990.
Tags: IL Dinges