FERRIDAY &8212; Despite recent controversy, the Ferriday Police Department has a very clear policy on towing vehicles.

&8220;The Town of Ferriday uses Barlow Wrecker,&8221; Chief Robert Davis said. &8220;If you get stopped and you need to be towed, if you request Curtis, Curtis&8217; Wrecker will tow.&8221;

Sandra Evans disputed that claim in a November council meeting, denouncing the mayor and police for not allowing her to choose a wrecker service.

&8220;I said that I want Curtis to tow my car. The officer told me Barlow was going to tow it, and that was the end of it,&8221; Evans said.

She didn&8217;t get her choice because the vehicle was being towed for violations including no registration, no plates and no insurance.

&8220;That car was on the road illegally; (in that case) you don&8217;t get a request,&8221; Davis said.

Lamont Lewis, the driver of an 18-wheeler that ran off of U.S. 84 near Taunton&8217;s Oct. 5, didn&8217;t get a request either, even though Curtis&8217;, whom he had called on the advice of a bystander, was on the scene before the competition.

Davis said his request was not honored because Lewis was not with his truck when the officer showed up, something Lewis denied.

Curtis Nelson, owner of Curtis&8217; Wrecker, and the bystander were both arrested in the incident.

&8220;It was established by the mayor (Gene Allen) what wrecker service we use, and that&8217;s Barlow,&8221; Davis said. &8220;Vidalia uses Curtis&8217;.&8221;

Vidalia Police Chief Billy Hammers said that was true.

He declined to discuss the reasons but did say that any request for a different service is honored. &8220;So long as they are licensed to tow in Louisiana, they can call over to Natchez if they want to,&8221; Hammers said.

According to the Louisiana State Police, towing policies are the province of each individual police department.

&8220;There are no state laws that are going to tell a police agency how to run their business, not when it comes to towing.&8221; Lt. Clennard Ross said.

Ross is a member of the Towing and Recovery unit of the Transportation and Environmental Safety Section of the LSP.

Ross also said complaints about a particular department&8217;s policy are to be lodged with that department, &8220;unless you&8217;ve got a higher power in that town or parish.&8221;

There is a higher power in Ferriday, the Board of Aldermen. The board makes the rules and had already addressed the towing matter last spring, Mayor Pro-Tem Jerome Harris said.

&8220;Under the old administration, we made a motion to use a rotation system,&8221; Harris said.

In the March council meeting, a motion was passed by a 4-0 vote to implement a rotation system and have the chief of police report to the board for approval.

But that was the old board, and the new one &8212; of which Harris is the only holdover &8212; took no further action on the matter in its inaugural April meeting.

Harris, troubled to find no wrecker report at that meeting, proposed a motion to implement the rotation system effective the date of the meeting. It never was brought to a vote because the motion was not seconded. Still, the motion from the March meeting had passed, but a motion is not a law.

In order to make rotation the law, a motion to write an ordinance would need to be brought forth and approved. Then public hearings would be called and held before another vote to approve the ordinance.

City Attorney Derrick Carson said the process can take anywhere between 30 days and a couple of months, depending on various factors.

If Harris succeeds in getting the board to adopt an ordinance mandating a wrecker rotation, board members can look to their sheriff or across the river to get an idea for how it should work.

The Concordia Parish Sheriff&8217;s Office uses a rotation list to assign wreckers. When the officer at the scene determines a wrecker is needed, he or she calls dispatch, which calls the service at the top of rotation.

This process is only started after the officer asks the car&8217;s owner if he wants a specific wrecker, and that request is honored, department spokesperson Kathy Stevens said.

&8220;If someone requests a company, then that&8217;s who is called, of course,&8221; she said. &8220;But if there is no request, it goes on a rotating basis.&8221;

The policy of the Adams County Sheriff&8217;s Office is identical, only their list is longer.

Both the ACSO and Natchez police, which also use a rotation system, ask people if there is a wrecker service of choice before calling dispatch to request a tow.

Any company may sign up if it&8217;s licensed and has proper equipment.

Both offices said they receive few complaints about the matter.