Natalia Chi
New York Mayor Eric Adams announced on the 5th that it will intensify efforts to punish those suspected of illegally forging and using paper license plates, and detained illegal vehicles may be sent for auction; so far, the city has been arrested for “ghost cars”. The number soared by 300%.
As of July 3, the city’s police department has issued 16,448 fines to drivers who used illegal or concealed license plates, towed 1,700 vehicles, and impounded 2,478 vehicles, according to the city’s police department. In addition, since July 2021, the rectification efforts have intensified, and the authorities have seized more than 800 vehicles in a year, most of which used fake license plates from various states in the United States; and in the past year, suspected of using temporary paper license plates. The number of arrests rose by 3,568, a 300 percent increase from the 893 arrests in 2016.
“We tow away ‘ghost cars’ because the owners have ulterior motives and bad intentions for public safety.” Adams said the government is using legislation to hunt down people who have fake license plates and who are trying to commit crimes but cannot be traced. “We can’t look at the vehicles. Become a weapon for criminals, and don’t turn streets into battlefields.”
On the 25th of last month, a stolen Honda car with expired South Carolina license plates by criminals rampaged in Brooklyn (Brooklyn), killing a 67-year-old woman and an 8-year-old woman in critical condition. The boy was seriously injured.
The “ghost car” is becoming the same as the “ghost gun”. Because the crime cost is low and cannot be tracked by the government, it has become a “cancer” that endangers social and public safety. City Police Chief Keechant Sewell said that vehicles with license plate problems are often associated with criminal behavior, and that impounded vehicles often find guns, drugs, fake documents and more fake license plates. “We will fully combat this. A public safety threat to eradicate the illegal phenomenon of “ghost cars”. ”
New York State requires license plates to be easily recognizable; New York City also makes it illegal for any license plate to be obscured by material or substances, and “ghost cars” towed by city police, often without the owner’s redemption, are sent to auction. As of June, the city police had issued 13,250 fines for vehicles with covered license plates, a 33 percent increase from 9,956 in the same period last year.
From now on, the city’s efforts to crack down on “ghost cars” will also be intensified. The Municipal Police Bureau will dispatch patrol officers in the city’s 77 jurisdictions to strictly enforce the law against obscured license plates, paper license plates, and problematic license plates.
