Bankruptcy

Operation Repo

By Adam Levitin

TruTV has a reality series called Operation Repo. Basically they follow around a crew of brawny, heavily tattooed auto reposessors (men and women) in the San Fernando valley. Drama and hijinks ensue.

I'm sure they only show the more dramatic repos on TV (and I found the show strangely compelling, especially to see how a lot of the time the repo crew gets tips about auto whereabouts from disaffected family members), but what I was most struck by was how often the repos "breach the peace." People are routinely getting pepper-sprayed or shoved or put into headlocks as they try to stop the repo actions. Occasionally someone pulls a gun on the repo men, and they back off.

My secured credit class spends a tiny bit of time on repos, but the show is a vivid reminder that practice and law (repomen can't breach the peace) are very far removed. I think it's safe to say that the law of repomen is law of the jungle.

Full post as published by Credit Slips on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).