Rhonda Hankins, an employee who runs the front desk at Lockwood Auto Salvage, stands amongst 10 acres of scrap vehicles in East Chattanooga early Monday afternoon.They pick them up anywhere and everywhere. On the sides of roads, in front yards and backyards.
A little-known Tennessee law allows thieves to game the system, selling stolen old cars to local scrap-metal yards, even if they can’t prove they own the vehicle.
And police have a hard time dealing with it.
“We have several of them [stolen vehicles] suitcase-sized by the time we get there,” said Chattanooga Police Department Chief Bobby Dodd.
Dodd plans to speak to the City Council today in an attempt to find some way to deal with the auto thefts. He and other law enforcement officers spent time last year lobbying the Tennessee General Assembly to pass laws that would limit scrap metal dealers from being able to shred or crush cars as they came in.