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Q&A
Challenges with ghost plates and out-of-state license enforcement
5:00:12
·
3 min
Council Member Brewer raises concerns about ghost plates, out-of-state licenses, and related enforcement issues. Commissioner Niblack discusses the challenges in addressing these problems and some measures being taken.
- Ghost plates and online plate ordering pose significant challenges for enforcement
- Issues with people not changing out-of-state licenses when moving to New York
- Difficulties in addressing defaced plates and incorrect vehicle ownership information
- The Department of Finance has implemented a program to help vehicle owners wrongly issued multiple violations
- The mayor and other city officials are attentive to these issues and seeking solutions
- Council Member Brewer suggests the need for public service announcements and further investigation
Gale A. Brewer
5:00:12
The other thing of the ghost plates, it's not just ghost plates.
5:00:16
People order plates online.
5:00:18
People from Virginia seem to have lots of plates.
5:00:21
And people who live here, move from another state and never get their New York state license plate.
5:00:26
So is that how are we addressing any of that?
5:00:28
I know it's not just you.
5:00:29
It's PD.
5:00:31
But the money we're losing millions, I would assume.
5:00:35
Even just telling people, maybe that's the Department of Motor Vehicles, you live here, you're supposed to have a New York state license.
5:00:43
But, again, when they go through the cameras everywhere and get the tickets, they're not paying.
5:00:48
Yep.
5:00:49
How are we addressing that, if at all?
Preston Niblack
5:00:50
Very difficult, honestly, to address the ghost plates, particularly because, again, they they may not we may not have anybody on you know, was associated with
Gale A. Brewer
5:00:59
that There's nobody there.
Preston Niblack
5:00:59
Issue a ticket to.
Justin Brannan
5:01:00
Right?
Preston Niblack
5:01:01
We we encounter increasingly, we have encountered the problem of people who somebody somebody stole the plate.
5:01:10
Somebody defaced the plate so that it looks like a different plate.
5:01:14
Somebody didn't take registration sticker off when they sold their car, so the violation gets issued to the wrong owner.
5:01:22
We set up a program in the office of the parking someone's advocate where if you get five or more violations like that that are dismissed by an ALJ, then we will actually you can sign a form and we will dispute those tickets for you as they come in so that you don't have to be dealing with them.
5:01:40
Because there are cases where we've had dozens, even hundreds of tickets issued to a vehicle that didn't belong anymore to the owner.
5:01:47
So there is definitely an issue with how are we recording with the DMV, correct ownership.
5:01:58
But a lot of this, you know, especially with defaced or ghost plates is very difficult to really tackle.
Gale A. Brewer
5:02:06
Alright.
5:02:07
But I'm just alright.
5:02:08
So we're kinda like chalking it up to can't do anything about it?
Preston Niblack
5:02:12
I I don't I wouldn't say that because the mayor has been very the mayor and the and the police commissioner and the deputy mayor for public safety have all been very much attentive to this problem.
5:02:22
The mayor has pushed me and others hard on sort of what we can do here.
5:02:27
If I may make one public service announcement in this, I will say that, it's very important that people remember when they sell their car to scrape the sticker, take the registration sticker off.
Gale A. Brewer
5:02:37
Okay.
5:02:37
I'm just saying that it it actually is bigger than ghost plates.
5:02:40
We've been looking at it with the investigation staff of Oversight and Investigations, and it's, you know, selling the license plate out of the back of the car Yeah.
5:02:49
From Virginia.
5:02:50
And then all the people who live here who are not from New York, weren't from New York.
Preston Niblack
5:02:55
I don't know why.
Gale A. Brewer
5:02:56
And they don't change their Virginia.
5:02:57
License plate.
5:02:58
Is Virginia.
5:02:59
I don't know why.
Preston Niblack
5:02:59
But I think it's Georgia.
5:03:01
Virginia.
Gale A. Brewer
5:03:01
Anyway, long story short, and I don't see any public service announcement as you suggest from the state, I guess, would be or even from you move here, you gotta change your license.
5:03:10
But they don't because those aren't those folks aren't getting there's no reciprocal agreement, so they're not paying either.
Preston Niblack
5:03:16
I think we'd be actually happy if you're doing work on this in your committee, council member.
5:03:22
We'd happy to, like, get together and talk to you about what you're finding and see if we, you know, brainstorm some thoughts about how to address this because it's definitely difficult problem to Okay.