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Jordan Towing6/12/2002
partment (BCPD) for investigation and review of the need for additional towers in a particular area. The BCPD then reports back to the DPM and the DPM ultimately issues or declines to issue the license. If a license is issued, a towing business is assigned the specific geographical area within Baltimore County in which it can operate and is notified by the police whenever a disabled vehicle needs to be removed from an accident scene.
Unlike the Baltimore County Code, which does not define or clarify "need" in the code sections pertaining to new towers, the BCPD does utilize specific "need" criteria to assess the need for additional service when forming its report for the DPM. The "Need Criteria" memorandum issued to all of its precincts by the BCPD, and presumably available to applicants, reads:
"NEED CRITERIA
"The term `need' as presented in Section 24-229 of the Baltimore County Code specifies the Police Department's need for an additional tower in the applicant's area.
"When determining `need', the following factors shall be considered by the Police Department's Towing Unit when processing an application a Baltimore County Towing License.
1. The geographical location of the tower with respect to the heavily traveled roadways.
2. The number of accidents with disabled vehicles on these heavily traveled roadways in the applicant's area.
3. The proximity of other licensed towers, both in terms miles and minutes between the applicant's location and the licensed towers location that are currently servicing the area.
4. A history of the previous year; late response times and no response times for the licensed towers currently servicing the area. The number of years experience, number of trucks and number of complaints of the licensed towers currently servicing the area. 5. The growth potential for the particular geographical area in which the applicant is located.
6. The average daily traffic count for the heavily traveled roadways in the applicant's area.
7. Whether or not the application is for a location where a tow license had previously been in existence.
8. The quality of the operation of the applicant, including the number of trucks, the number of years experience in towing, and whether or not the tower is in a position to furnish specialized services; such as heavy duty."
The criteria are facially race neutral. In the case sub judice, there is no contention otherwise.
It has been the longstanding practice of the DPM to interpret need as set forth in the Baltimore County Code by only using the same eight factors which are relied upon by the BCPD. The DPM has not, in the past, resorted to other definitions of need outside of the listed criteria of the BCPD.
b. Appellant's Towing Application Process
On November 3, 1998, appellant first applied for a towing license in the Woodlawn area of Baltimore County where appellees in this case were already licensed to tow. In the ten years prior to appellant's application, no new towing licenses had been issued by Baltimore County and when appellant applied for his towing license there were no African-American towers licensed in Baltimore County.
Appellant's application was reviewed by Mr. Eugene Freeman, the Chief of the DPM, and sent to the BCPD traffic management unit where it was reviewed by Officer Denker. Prior to appellant's application being submitted to the DPM, Mr. Freeman and Mr. Earl Jordan discussed the issuance of towing licenses in Baltimore County. Mr. Freeman advised Mr. Jordan about the eight provisions constituting the "Need Cr
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