Columbus police to target abandoned, inoperable vehicles in two neighborhoods next week

Columbus police have a warning for anyone who has a car that can't operate or has abandoned a vehicle on a city street or public property: move it before they do.

Police will be starting to take action against these vehicles next week in "Operation Broken Windows," the department announced.

More than 11,000 complaints were received by the city's 311 service in 2021 about inoperable vehicles and others left to sit for weeks without moving. Concerns about the vehicles had also been expressed to Chief Elaine Bryant during community meetings, as well as by civic associations.

Sgt. James Fuqua said officers will initially focus on the Hilltop and Franklinton area, where the most complaints had been received.

Starting Monday, vehicles in the target area that are "clearly inoperable" will be tagged by police and the vehicle's owners will have between seven and 14 days to move the vehicle to private property or get the vehicle in operable condition, Fuqua said.

"We're talking about vehicles with flat tires, shattered windows, vehicles that are covered to the point where it's clear they're not operable," Fuqua said.

Space cleared at city impound lot for Operation Broken Windows

Police will then begin towing the vehicles to the city's impound lot, where they can be retrieved by the owner. While the city impound lot has been regularly full, Fuqua said there has been some space cleared to allow for vehicles targeted by this special operation to be towed and stored there.

There are at least 100 vehicles that police know of that would meet the definition of a "junk car" or vehicle that is clearly unable to be driven, he said.

Fuqua said the department knows that other areas of the city also have issues with inoperable vehicles and there will be efforts made in those other neighborhoods in the future to address the issue.

"The plan is to start where we are because that's where the highest number of complaints were by the data," Fuqua said. "We're going to do this one first and then assess it to see how it went and how we can do better."

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Operation Broken Windows: Columbus police to target abandoned cars