The first example in the original SF Chronicle report it seems like they did very little to get in contact with the owner, someone staying in the very hotel the vehicle was parked in. The owner only happened to catch them in the act of trying to tow his vehicle and volunteered the video.

Nothing in the report appears to indicate that they made any effort to have the owner(s) in the first two examples volunteer the information at all.

This is no different than police attempting collecting cellphones from bystanders at the scene of a crime/disturbance as evidence. I'd be happy to provide law enforcement with any evidence relevant to the crime that may have occurred which I have, I'll be damned if they're just going to take my phone/vehicle and rip the entire device. I know what the information they collect looks like, and how that information is ingested. Your contacts, text messages, photos, etc are all going to end up in a database and potentially cross-referenced with any other ongoing cases.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not defending the police in this situation. I was just pointing out that they did in fact get court orders after they couldn’t find the owners.

Whether they tried hard enough to find the owner, or whether the court should issue a warrant allowing a vehicle to be towed, is another thing altogether. Personally, I’d be super upset.