A. It shall be the duty of every sheriff, chief of police or peace officer to make immediate report to the Department of Public Safety of all vehicles reported to their respective jurisdictions as being stolen or recovered. Such report shall be made as prescribed by the Department.

B. An owner or a lienholder may report the theft of a vehicle, or its conversion if a crime, to the Department, but the Department may disregard the report of a conversion unless a warrant has been issued for the arrest of a person charged with the conversion. A person who has so reported the theft or conversion of a vehicle shall, forthwith after learning of its recovery, report the recovery to the Department.

C. An operator of a place of business for garaging, repairing, parking or storing vehicles for the public, in which a vehicle remains unclaimed for a period of thirty (30) days, shall, within five (5) days after the expiration of that period, report the vehicle as unclaimed to the Department. Such report shall be on a form prescribed by the Department.

A vehicle left by its owner whose name and address are known to the operator or employee of the operator is not considered unclaimed. A person who fails to report a vehicle as unclaimed in accordance with this subsection forfeits all claims and liens for its garaging, parking or storing and is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine or not more than Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each day the failure to report continues.

D. The Department shall maintain and appropriately index cumulative public records of stolen, converted, recovered and unclaimed vehicles reported to it pursuant to this section. The Department may make and distribute weekly lists of such vehicles so reported to it to peace officers upon request without fee and to others for the fee, if any, the Department prescribes.

E. Any peace officer who has reason to believe or upon receiving information that a motor vehicle has been stolen shall have and is hereby vested with authority to confiscate and hold such vehicle until satisfactory proof of ownership is established. Provided, any vehicle that is towed by a licensed wrecker operator pursuant to the provisions of Section 954A of this title shall be returned to the licensed wrecker operator prior to any other claim or assertion of ownership.

Added by Laws 1961, p. 337, § 4-105, eff. Sept. 1, 1961. Amended by Laws 2003, c. 279, § 3, emerg. eff. May 26, 2003; Laws 2012, c. 197, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2012.