It’s called courtesy towing, and it’s a real doozy of a system. If someone gets a temp no-parking zone permit, for whatever reason, a before legal space to park, becomes illegal. So cops tow the car, often to illegal spots, and the person who owns it has no idea whats happened, and many report the car stolen. If it is impounded because it was moved to an illegal spot, they have to pay the fine. They are supposed to give 24-48 hour notice that a spot is going to be a no-parking zone, though this towing can happen for other reasons as well. This courtesy towing reportedly happened about 2000 times between 2018-2020
