I was looking at the license plate on my car the other day when I noticed something amiss. Some miscreant scraped the tags from both the front and rear plates.



So now what do I do? I don't have to pay for replacement tags, do I? Do I need to file a police report or what?



To prevent this from occurring in the future, I considered getting a clear license plate cover. Something like this could do the job: http://www.autoplates.com/catalog/licen ... _5243.html



However, I discovered that this is a $75 offense in Illinois! Ref: http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/13929.asp. Is this illegal in Missouri?



This tag stealing thing is pretty f'ing annoying and government should do whatever it can to alleviate the burden on us...

^ To quote someone that I think is probably one of your least favorite politicians, "I feel your pain".



Seriously, that sucks. It's happened to me three times in as many years, the last time was just two or three weeks ago as I mentioned in the crime thread. Twice thieves have cut up the middle of my plates, but most recently, they simply took the plates.



Governor Blunt recently signed a bill which eases the pain a little. The bad news? You'll still have to stand in line at a DMV (I use the one inside City Hall on the first floor) and cough up $3.50. The good news? The new law specifically allows for plate covers as long as they are completely transparent, the fee has been reduced from $20.50 to $3.50, (the plates are now free but the licensing agent still gets their fee), and you no longer have to file a police report to obtain replacement stickers or plates. You fill out a notarized affadavit at the license office instead. I would imagine you could retain your current plates if they're not damaged, and if they are damaged, I know from experience that you can get new plates and renewal stickers for the same $3.50 fee.



When I replaced my plates I bought clear shields like the ones you posted a link to, and I bought screws at an auto parts store that require a small hex key to remove the plates. I never bought the shields before because I thought they were against the law, so I'm glad the new law clears that up.



Hope this helps...

It used to be the case that you could get a replacement set of tags for free if you provided a copy of a police report on the theft. Otherwise, you had to pay an $8.50 replacement fee. Unfortunately, as I discovered when my tags were stolen a few years ago, some local police departments charge around $10.00 for a copy of a police report, making it cheaper to just pay the replacement fee...



This past June, however, the governor signed a new law into effect whereby you can now get a free replacement set of tags if you submit a notarized affidavit.



It's still worth reporting the theft to the police for their records, though the chances of catching the perpetrator are minimal.

^ I signed the affadavit and still paid the $3.50 fee. From what I heard, Governor Blunt and the lawmakers responsible for the bill wanted to make the plates completely free, but they couldn't get around the $3.50 agent fee for some reason. Or, maybe the clerk just wanted an extra $3.50 from me, I don't know...



I didn't report this to the police the first two times, because interestingly enough, both times it happened while I was shopping in Crestwood. I reported the most recent occurence, though, since it happened at my house this time, and since the thieves took my entire plates instead of just cutting them to retrieve the month/year stickers. I seriously doubt police will catch the perp(s) responsible, but there have been other incidents of license plate theft and car break-ins around here recently, so I figure every crime should be reported.



Supposedly the new bluebird plates, which are to be phased in between mid-2008 and December 2010, will have larger year stickers that are more difficult to remove from the plate, and the plate number will be duplicated on the sticker so law enforcement will know if a sticker is fraudulently displayed.

Ahh, thanks a bunch! I live downtown but work in the county. Any Missouri state DMV will do? If so, there's one in Bridgeton that's close. The plates themselves are fine. Do I have to take them off and show them or what? $3.50 seems fairly reasonable.



I'm not sure exactly when or where the tags were stolen, so I'm not sure of the value of filing a police report. Can I do it over the phone or do I have to go to a police station. I'm no sure if it's worth wasting 30 minutes to an hour of my life to do that....



That's pretty clever with the hex screws. I'll have to try that!



I actually voted for Bill Clinton back in the day. That was before I had more fully developed my political view of the world. Very smart, charismatic guy though.

No problem, glad to help! Yes, any DMV office will do, and you shouldn't have to remove and/or replace your license plates if each is still in one piece.



If you aren't sure about where the tags were stolen, I wouldn't bother with a police report. I would say just use the hex screws and shields once you get the month/year stickers replaced, and good luck...



I voted for Bill Clinton back in the day as well, and as you said, he's an intelligent and charismatic politician. I have serious issues with the present occupant of the White House, but like you, I was no fan of his 2000 or 2004 opponents either. In 2008 I may have to take Penn Jillette's advice that The Central Scrutinizer uses in his signature line depending on the people that emerge as front-runners.

This happened to me a few times. I don't have a plate cover or special screws. All I do is after I put the tags on, take an exacto knife and slice the label up into about 20 pieces (a few slices right across horizontally, a few vertically and a couple diaganolly). I've had no problems since.



Thieves will pass you up because they would have to take every single piece one at a time. They won't steal your plate either because they would still haev to transfer the sticker and make it look right. Or, maybe they just don't like jigsaw puzzles.

yeah, slicing it up should deter any thieves. I've also thought of smearing a bit of super glue on the sticker too.

I sliced mine up as well with an X-Acto knife. Perhaps it wasn't thorough enough, I don't know. Didn't stop them, that's for sure.

I sliced the stickers on my last set of plates, but then the thieves just took the plates, so I thought I'd better make the whole process a little more difficult the next time some lowlife thinks about targeting my car. The hex screws require a hex key and they are a bit longer than the ones that came from the dealership with my car as well, so I figure it would be even more tedious to remove the license plates and the clear shields.

Both of my plates were stolen on a Saturday night this Spring (the same night Josh Hancock had his accident). I called in and got a police report and got replacement plates for just $3.50 on Monday once the DMV in O'Fallon was open again. It was much easier than I had expected..... except it was the last day of the month, so it took an hour to get to the counter.

God forbid anyone would consider OCRing the tags for the next generation of plates so that they were 1-to-1 matched to their master license plates. (I wonder if OCR and/or laser technology is advanced enough that a cop could scan plates and tags while sitting in a car behind the car that s/he's just pulled over.)

A possible answer is RFID. Britain tested this but I'm not sure what has come of it. Needless to say, the tin-foil hat people would not be pleased. See: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/ ... 5/08/68429



I wanna know why we have to put stupid farking tags on the license plate anyway. If the state had its act together, a cop could enter in the license plate number into the system to ensure its been registered properly.



A lot of money is being wasted because of an apparent lack of forethought by our government.

Before I put new tags on my plates, I slice them diagonally, and apply only the TOP HALF of the sticker. Then I keep the bottom halves in my glove box, in case I ever need to show them to a cop. Thieves don't seem to bother with only half a tag; I haven't had mine stolen in over 5 years.

Bastiat wrote:

innov8ion wrote:A possible answer is RFID. Britain tested this but I'm not sure what has come of it. Needless to say, the tin-foil hat people would not be pleased. See: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/ ... 5/08/68429



I wanna know why we have to put stupid farking tags on the license plate anyway. If the state had its act together, a cop could enter in the license plate number into the system to ensure its been registered properly.



A lot of money is being wasted because of an apparent lack of forethought by our government.

I think this is a legitimate concern for anyone who isn't naive. At the rate that the British are being stripped of their natural rights and being subjected to constant surveillance, we may as well start calling that country Airstrip One

And what do you have to hide, Bastiat? Your license plate number identifies you as well. Don't hear you complaining about that. The RFID plate would just contain a number that means nothing to most anyone. It only makes sense when it's attributed to a secure system that the patrolman can connect to.

innov8ion wrote:A possible answer is RFID. Britain tested this but I'm not sure what has come of it. Needless to say, the tin-foil hat people would not be pleased. See: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/ ... 5/08/68429



I wanna know why we have to put stupid farking tags on the license plate anyway. If the state had its act together, a cop could enter in the license plate number into the system to ensure its been registered properly.



A lot of money is being wasted because of an apparent lack of forethought by our government.

I read an article recently about some small state like Delaware or Vermont beta testing a new system. Basicly it's a camera mounted in cop cars that scans and records every license plate that passes. If a vehicle passes and the plate is flagged for some reason, the system alerts the officer so they can pull them over.



Very Big Brother.



CORRECTION: it's just a town in Ohio.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid= ... 3&from=rss

^ I might actually be willing to trade this for not having to register my plates, renew stickers/etc. BTW - the new US Passports have RFID tags in them.

DeptOfRevenue wrote:From a page titled "Put the Brakes on Tab Theft" from the Missouri Department of Revenue. Ref: http://dor.mo.gov/mvdl/motorv/tabtheft.htm



"The new design, which features a blue bird (Missouri’s state bird) sitting on a Hawthorn branch (Missouri’s state flower), will improve the plate’s visibility to law enforcement and ensure collection of state and local sales taxes and local property taxes. The Missouri State Highway Patrol aided the advisory committee to help ensure that the new plate would be easy to read for law enforcement and would provide features to reduce tab theft."

How in the fark is a Bluebird supposed to improve the plate's visibility to law enforcement? If anything else, a cleaner look would help the police see the tags and license plate number easier.



And another rant, do Missourians really identify with their state bird? A blue bird for cripes sakes? I'm a Cub fan, but shouldn't it be some kind of a red bird instead? Just maybe? But a blue bird, why don't they just call it a Royal?

^

Isn't the bluebird the state bird of about half the states? What's so Missourian about it?

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode when Springfield split in two over the area code debate and Homer became mayor of New Springfield



Principal Skinner: Well at least we have a better town bird than you



Homer: Oh yeah, what is it?



Skinner: The bluebird



Homer: Dammitt!

Grover wrote:^ I might actually be willing to trade this for not having to register my plates, renew stickers/etc. BTW - the new US Passports have RFID tags in them.

And don't forget you can be tracked by your cell phone, credit and debit purchases, voice, emails and other internet traffic; all in real time. If the government wants you bad enough, they will find you. Meanwhile, what's the big deal? If it kept me from having to replace stupid tags on my plates, I'd be happy. Plus it'd help the police become far more effective catching criminals than a flipping bluebird. w t f

My fiancee's stickers were stolen, she was even pulled over for speeding and the cop never said anything about it. One of the guys in my building was recently pulled over, and on the report the cop put down that he had Kansas plates... Even though he had an Iowa temp tag, and a drivers license from Missouri.

I just refuse to get new ones since I know it will happen again. I had my stickers stolen over a year ago and have not had problems in STL. With that said, other cities don't bother to run your plates, they just give you tickets for having "expired plates".

innov8ion wrote:How in the fark is a Bluebird supposed to improve the plate's visibility to law enforcement? If anything else, a cleaner look would help the police see the tags and license plate number easier.

The visibility claim is spurious to say the least...the current plates are more legible IMHO than most standard plates used in other states. Since law enforcement is the primary reason we're required to display license plates in the first place, I've always thought we should do away with all the different personalized and specialty license plate options in favor of a simple and straightforward look like European license plates. Those that insist on expressing themselves through their car can always get a bumper sticker or a license plate frame.



I think it's more of a revenue grab. They'll make a bit more money off registration since the new plates have a small surchage, and because current plates will be obsolete and no longer valid after a certain date. This will inevitably force most of those trying to circumvent the system to acquire new plates.



I guess that's fair enough, but I don't see why a complete plate redesign is necessary. I think they should just re-issue the same design with the supposedly improved stickers. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Carolina have been reissuing plates with the same basic graphic design for over 20 years now.

And another rant, do Missourians really identify with their state bird? A blue bird for cripes sakes? I'm a Cub fan, but shouldn't it be some kind of a red bird instead? Just maybe? But a blue bird, why don't they just call it a Royal?

I don't love the new plates by any means, and I don't think a complete change is necessary, but it could also be much worse (the new KS and IN plates are pretty bad, and so many states have websites on their plates which is tacky IMHO). When I saw a sample bluebird plate in person recently, it didn't look nearly as bad as the primitive Web 2.0 illustration on the Department of Revenue website.