Towing in the Trenches of Trenton

Tower Brian Hawkins grew up in Trenton, N.J., and has seen it change for the worse.“This past week there were six homicides,” Hawkins said. “There’s a shooting a day. This place is a free-for-all.”Hawkins’ towing company, Hawk’s Towing and Recovery, has been kept busy, thanks in part to cars that have been hauled in due to drug seizures, prostitution, burglary and stolen vehicles. Not the most nurturing environment to make a living.“You have to keep your guard up because you never know what’s going to happen,” Hawkins said.It takes a thick skin like Hawk’s to deal with irate customers who don’t want to pay when their car is towed from a private lot for a sundry of infringements. Watch an episode of “Parking Wars” on cable TV and you’ll see Hawk’s in action, sitting in the driver’s seat of one of his mean-looking tow trucks, trying to do his job under city duress and then dealing with an angry customer back at the office.It takes a tough-looking truck to keep the riff-raff at bay alongside Trenton’s crime-ridden streets. This 2011 Ford F-350 with a Jerr-Dan Element belongs to Hawkins' son Brian Jr., "Little Hawk," and is a truck that shows its mean teeth.On the hood you will find the grim reaper holding a tow hook in one hand and a long, sharp blade in the other. You don’t want to mess with “Trenton’s Bad Boyz,” which is a medallion worn around the neck of the reaper, and reinforced on the backside of the cabin.Skulls and silhouettes cover various parts of the purple-and-black truck, with its splendid custom paint that has won awards. The name of the company is visible on the doors of the truck, which open vertically, and its nifty logo replaces the Ford logo on the front grill, with silver skulls arranged above and below.On the backside, you will find more interesting stuff like an expression that states “Yeah…This is a work truck” at the top of the cabin; just below a graphic of the historic Lower Trenton Bridge, also known as the “Trenton Makes” bridge because of large lettering on its south side reading “Trenton Makes; The World Takes.”Things have changed since Trenton’s industrial age.