HUDSON COUNTY — Thousands of cars, trucks, and mini-buses towed at the direction of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Department may leave the county open to lawsuits after the Hudson County freeholders discovered that there was no towing contract in place since 1996 and that “someone” at the county level allegedly directed the Sheriff’s Department to use a single tow company – in violation of state law that requires contracts to be bid and companies to have a set time period up to three years.
Freeholder Bill O’Dea said he began questioning the process last summer when he saw cars being stacked onto flat bed towing trucks owned by a specific company, at the direction of the Sheriff’s Department.
Representatives from the sheriff’s office said the company has been the sole provider of towing for privately owned vehicles since then-County Executive Robert Janiszewski abolished the Hudson County Police Department in 1995. Prior to that, the county had used a rotation system based on a contract awarded as a result of bidding.
Janiszewski was later hit with corruption charges on an unrelated issue.
The county freeholders at their Feb. 7 meeting ordered a review of the situation, saying that this leaves the county and possibly the towing company open to lawsuits from anyone who has been towed since 1996.