Impound changes

[Mxccy]

This thread will contain a few small QoL updates I feel would be beneficial to the server and overall player experience.

 

 

As a Senior mechanic within the roadside division I'm 9/10 out on the road. Be it impounding abandoned cars or helping people out. Somehow I always end up finding myself at impound, I always see people waiting for hours. Literal real life hours to get their car removed from the impound. I think we can all agree there has to be some sort of RP involved for the player to get their car back but when I hear things from people waiting such as

"I've been here for 3 hours with no response."
"been waiting a week on & off."
"hey are you able to release my car? I've been waiting for ages."
"last time I rang up the police I was told by an officer I'll be arrested if I ring again for wasting their time."

 

I have to ask myself where is the fun in that for this person? Can this system be better and how can it be done? There's a difference between an in character punishment and an out of character punishment, this has been looked at recently with jail times and has been adjusted but I believe impounds have fell through the cracks in this. Having to wait X amount of hours IRL to get a vehicle back after you've already served 6 hours real time in prison and waited out the licence suspension feels like a massive OOC punishment for something done IC. 

 Well with the addition of the MDC terminal at the impound this gives the opportunity for mechanics to be authorised to release vehicles.  Allow us mechanics the ability to also answer a request vehicle release at the impound.
Why?

Because not only will this speed up the ability for people to get back to RP (and not by an overpowered or unrealistic  - They will still have to have a valid licence, pay their fine &/or serve any sort of jail sentence they were given beforehand) and not stand around for ages, but people will not be 100% reliant on the police force who are often too busy to take these low priority issues. Generally its when an officer returns to base to fill in paperwork or if they fortunately drive past and see a queue of people waiting to have their car removed.

 

This brings me on to my second suggestion - one which I'm sure will be unpopular with people who park where ever the hell they want but I feel it unfair to provide one without the other.

Allow mechanics to identify the plate of a vehicle in the same way the police can - I.E A motorbike without a plate can not be impounded until a police officer has given me the plate. 
Now If I'm on patrol and see a bike has paid for a parking ticket but it has expired it will read [LICENCEPLATE] [ LOS SANTOS BANK] [EXPIRED] I've been provided the information there to impound the vehicle without having to contact an officer. Even if it doesn't have a plate - I now have the details! but 95% of the cars illegally parked do not have a ticket at all. Hell I even give leeway if I see the person bought a ticket - They at least attempted to do the right thing. Maybe it expired and they were C0? I'm not towing them first because they at least tried. 

There's also the issue with people having plates such as W0O0OO (an example, not real as far as I am aware) - The person has a licence plate which just causes a pain in the arse to impound unless an officer reads you the plate & as stated, they aren't always available to answer a call. These situations leaves me with the decision of either leaving the vehicle alone and not bothering impounding it or waiting round at the impound myself for an officer to arrive - during quiet hours this can be especially long. This will still prevent civilians phoning in a tip to the police by saying "Oh it was a black car and the plate was WOOOOO" 
My solution for this is also simple. 

When taking a vehicle to impound, once it is in the designated zone you are granted the access to use  CTRL + X - Search VIN (vehicle Identification Number) in the same way we have that access to the mechanic CTRL+X function when working on a car within LSC/Bayview or within proximity to a works vehicle. This will run the number through the MDC and provide us with the correct plate.
 

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Will this cut back on some of the RP between police and people who have had their car impounded? 

Yes I suppose it will in a way, but it will open up new RP for the mechanics and those who have had their car impounded. Police can still answer these calls however should they wish to. This is merely to take something off of their very full plate.

 

Will the mechanics even respond to them?

I can't count the times I've pulled in to impound with an elegy in tow and had people approach me asking for help with their vehicle and the times I've said I wish I could.
I can't speak for every mechanic but the same goes for officers. not every one of them will answer a recovery call. That's not bias -  its just how it is.  

 

How will this improve RP for the server?
With people having access to their cars quicker it will cut back on the monotonous waiting for someone to finally save you from impound purgatory - People will be back in the action quicker, people will still have to get a taxi or a friend to drop them to the impound so its not cutting anything out there, they will still have to interact with someone to get their car out, there will still be some waiting involved but it may not be hours any more.

 

Why did you suggest the VIN idea? that's just not fun I like parking where ever I want. 

My job is to fix cars and to tow them, this requires a QOL update for me just as much as it does for you.

 

I'm part of the Police/SD and I do help out with the impounds when I have time to, I also enjoy the RP behind it.

That's great and I'm happy you do! You also have to understand that not every officer has the time to respond to a low priority call such as "PLS HELP RELEASE CAR BLUE SULTAN" You can still respond to these calls but seeing people suffer day in and day out because of the current system just isn't fun.



If you have any other suggestions for this in the way of balancing I'd be happy to take them on board and add them to the post.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Steven Timpson

[Trevor12515]

+1 to this. I work as a mechanic myself and I'd say 98% of the time I go to the impound to impound a vehicle there are people there waiting and I'm being asked if I can get their vehicle out.

[Brayy]

+1 - As I made the original post, you went very in-depth with this, 100% agree.

[Mxccy]

1 minute ago, Braydavis29 said:

+1 - As I made the original post, you went very in-depth with this, 100% agree.

Wasn't aware there was another post on the matter! guess I didn't look hard enough, Thank you for the support though!

[dominykas]

+1, like mentioned very thorough and in-depth suggestion. Great idea!!!!

[Nunya]

+1  I love your idea very well thought out and presented!  I have addressed the issue in character more times that I can count so maybe they will look at making some sort of adjustments to alleviate how things are handled at impound. It has always been a last priority it seems and I completely agree. It cannot be fun spending several IRL hours just standing around impound and I imagine very discouraging to say the least.

One thing I suggested at PD numerous times was the ability for them to hire personnel specifically for the sole purpose of having a "desk sergeant" and/or individuals which would be  permanently on desk duty or those that only do desk duty at the front desk and respond to the calls at impound as I had seen this so many times. Or even having a shift supervisor assign an officer on a particular shift to that duty/responsibility. Realistically, there are support staff in every single law enforcement division that provide such support roles yet to be in PD they don't offer such opportunities. The only way to know if there are people that would enjoy that type of RP would be to actually consider or contemplate such ideas that go beyond the typical law enforcement vs. criminal scenarios that are most often discussed.

Thanks for posting such a great detailed idea!  Hope they consider it!

[SleeperSun]

why this still hasn't been added to the server as a quality of life feature is beyond me. Needs implemented to support the flow of roleplay. standing around for hours on end isn't a solution.

[olivern389]

+1 detailed explanations, totally agreed

[Mxccy]

Thought I'd revive this as I still believe it to be a viable idea - Especially with all the overhauls to certain systems currently going on.

[Phantas]

+1 still relevant to this day 

((Thumbs down for current impound wait times and times to wait for mechanic after once you realize the car is perma stalled. ))

Edited November 14, 2022 by Phantas

[AbsoluteBadonkers]

Massive +1. Many times have I gotten a ride from a friend to the impound to get my car out, and I then proceed to wait 20-30 minutes, ringing it every few minutes only for no one to show up. I understand that the police have other things to do, but is EVERY officer really busy, not a single one can come down for like 2 minutes?

 

Also to add on to this, if it’s possible I think a little fuel should be added to a car, and if it’s totaled, enough health to get it to start. Plenty of times have I been in a chase and I crash and total my car to then have it shut down and get impounded, and I then have to get a mechanic to fix it, same thing with fuel. I’ve had cars run out of fuel, get sent to the impound, and while I was getting money to get a fuel can for it I forgot it was out, so when I get it out of the impound I then have to run to the nearest store and then run back.

[Armando_Zampelli]

Im currently waiting at the impound lot, for over already 30-45 mins, this especially happens in Paletto, if the cops don't want to do it. Let us just pay a fixed amount like Mors Mutual and get our car back. (Donated 100 EU for a car just to have it at the impound lot placed for days lol)

Waste of time IMO

PS: Just got released by a nice officer who happend to be in the sherrifs office, so definately also would like to thank the officers that actually do respond to these calls and help players out to continue their RP. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Armando_Zampelli

[NoahG]

+1

[Martin James]

+1 Should maybe just be in impound for a certain time before you can release yourself. It's a joke having to wait hours sometimes. I have less game time played in some whole games than I do waiting around for a cop to release from impound.