Benton Township Police Chief Greg Abrams has a plan for dealing with late night partiers who hang out in business parking lots during the weekend.
Speaking on this week’s webcast of Chatting with the Chief, hosted by Benton Harbor Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis, Abrams said his department is going to start towing away the cars of those in attendance. He has been talking with the owners of businesses where these unauthorized parties have been taking place.
“We’re going to have them sign pretty much a letter of agreement allowing the Benton Charter Township Police Department to tow vehicles out of their lots without us having to contact them first,” Abrams said. “This is going to detour a lot of that parking illegally, gathering illegally, and we’re set to point right now, once we receive those letters back, we’re going to be contacting tow agencies, and at some point they’re probably going to follow us out to these locations.”
Abrams says he’s also considering doing that on residential streets when vehicles are blocking the flow of traffic.
Another plan Abrams is weighing is to send officers out to the locations of late-night block parties with warrant lists so they can arrest people with outstanding warrants without having to look around for them.
Benton Harbor and Benton Township law enforcement have been working together recently to try to stamp out illegal block parties that often end in shootings.
