A multi-agency, city-state task force was launched on Tuesday to identify and remove “ghost cars” — cars that are virtually untraceable by traffic cameras and toll readers because of their forged or altered license plates — from New York City streets.
An inter-agency operation involving the NYPD, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, MTA bridge and tunnel officers, the New York State Police, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, said they impounded 73 cars, issued 282 summonses and arrested eight individuals, according to a news release.
"By launching this city-state task force, we are sending a clear message: if you attempt to alter your license plate to avoid traffic cameras and toll readers, you will be caught," Governor Kathy Hochul said.
The primary focus of the task force is to remove vehicles with fraudulent or modified license plates — and those with no tags at all — as these vehicles are often unregistered, uninsured or stolen. In some cases, vehicle operators in New York City used this cloak of anonymity to commit more serious violent crimes, including hit-and-runs, robberies and shootings.
In her Executive Budget, Governor Hochul proposed legislation that would improve toll collections throughout the State by increasing fines and penalties for driving with altered plates, prohibiting the sale or distribution of covers that obscure license plates, allowing police to seize illegal plate covers and restricting DMV registration transactions for vehicles with suspended registrations for failure to pay tolls or failing to remove plate-obscuring materials.
To combat this scourge during 2022 and 2023, the NYPD, the New York City Sheriff’s Office and their law enforcement partners arrested nearly 11,200 drivers and impounded their vehicles, seized almost 12,900 additional vehicles and issued motorists more than 21,200 moving violation summonses.
