Police clamp down on obscured car plates

| 26/05/2017 | 47 Comments

(CNS): The RCIPS Traffic Unit is warning drivers that they will be enforcing the law regarding the need for an unobstructed display of all vehicle licence plates. With car thefts on the increase and stolen vehicles being used in crimes, police stressed the importance of being able to see licence plates on CCTV. Plate covers are not permitted in the traffic legislation, as even very transparent covers can obscure the numbers.

Vehicle owners convicted of obscuring plates are liable to a fine of up to $300 or even a six-month stint in jail, the police reminded the public, as they warned people to keep the their registration numbers clear.

An RCIPS spokesperson said that officers are renewing efforts regarding this issue because obstructed licence plates hinder the necessary regulation of vehicles and enforcement of the Traffic Law, and enable the use of vehicles in criminal activity.

“The RCIPS urges the public to remove any coverings from licence plates. Officers will be prosecuting drivers of vehicles with obstructed plates, and penalties will be imposed,” the spokesperson said.

Traffic regulations state: “A person who –(a) uses reflex-reflecting material, retro-reflecting characters or any other treatment of the registration plate which renders the characters less easily distinguishable to the eye or which would impair the making of a true photographic image of the plate; or (b) uses screws, bolts or other fixing devices which have the effect of changing the appearance or legibility of any of the characters of the registration plate…”

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Category: Crime, Police

Comments (47)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    TCTI. Too Caymanian To Indicate.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Would this stand up in court? Does a judge rule on law or regulations? What does the traffic law say regarding this?

    • Anonymous says:

      Obscuring plates is an offense – see mode of display §22, penalties §138.

      §8. (1) The owner of a registered vehicle shall exhibit registration plates displayed in the prescribed manner.

      §8. (4) Where the Director is unable to issue permanent licence plates, he may
      issue temporary licence plates of such design and dimensions as he may
      determine but such plates shall be issued for a period not exceeding six months.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I hope the cops put as much effort into chasing down vehicles with temporary paper plates in most cases invisible to the general public… and COPS as they are planning to do for those with plastic protective covers…The deadline to hand in temporary plates I understand is May 31st and based on the number I still see driving around; it doesn’t appear they will be in compliance with this request anytime soon….furthermore, it also means that they haven’t paid the fee for the plates!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Temp plates are going to take a few months to chew through with no formal deadline given. Many people still haven’t been called/notified to come in and exchange theirs. It is standing room only in the DVDL and the staff are there until late at night trying to get through it all. Coupon renewals for plated cars are deferred until next year. Exchange is free/no charge with coupon and both front and rear temps.

    • Anonymous says:

      Anyone with temporary plates will be called when their plates are ready. I too had thought there was a May 31 deadline so I went down to collect. After waiting an hour I was sent packing as I was told they would phone when they are ready.

      Paper plates are a byproduct of bad planning, Protective covers serve no other purpose then to evade the police, there is no need to protect your license plate.

  4. My 2 cents says:

    Most people use the plate covers because the old yellow plates fade and the plastic strips off them within a few months of sitting in the sun…..prople would prefer to spend $15 to protect them than having to return to delicensing and pay to replace the plates…..not everyone using them are up to “no good”.!!!. Hopefully the $1.5m the old govt spent on the new plates with which they say are tamper proof once affixed to the vehicles will be worth it. Mind you I’ve seen cars with the new plates sitting on their dashboards…..how do they become tamper proof if they are not even affixed to the vechicle in the first place? Licensing department should be ensuring that the plates are properly secured in each vehicle before leaving their compound ……….

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  5. Chris Reynolds says:

    How about enforcing the rules of roundabouts since no one on this island seems to know how to use them? Or how about stopping people from drinking and driving instead of looking for expired stickers on Friday and Saturday nights? Everyone seems to be efficient at driving while under the influence in Grand Cayman, it’s almost impressive.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    While they are at it do something about those that park on sidewalks they are there for walking not parking

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  7. Anonymous says:

    What exactly is this ‘clampdown’ thing. Sounds about as authentic as a ‘blow out’ sale.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Personally, whilst being glad the cameras can read them, having seen the new number plates I think they are difficult to read on the move or from a distance compared to the old ones.

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    • Anonymous says:

      and people are still not mounting them on the front of their vehicles!!! Unbelievable, saw 2 today with them on the dash

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  9. Anonymous says:

    While there at it how about enforcing the degree of tinting on Windows. There are many many vehicles cruising the island with blacked out windows. I thought this was a no no. I had what I considered a minor tint on my car when I bought it but when I went to get the car inspected they told me it had to come off. Let’s enforce this one please.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Lets be clear here; black tint is allowed on your back passenger windows (dark as you want).

      Your front windows must be 35% (the legal limit). Your front windscreen cannot be tinted at all, only a 6 inch strip can be added at the top. Your rear windscreen can be tinted but must be 35%.

      That being said, my car is tinted (all legal), but my interior is black so it can seem “illegal” to the blind eye.

      I hope this helps and that not all of us are being labelled as criminals because not all cars that have tint are being used to conduct criminal activity.

    • Anonymous says:

      So DVLD made you take the tint off, 7.24am? So how come there are probably thousands of cars with it still on? Or do the staff there let their friends keep it on? Don’t cars over 3 years old get tested every year? If cars new to the island have it removed before it can be licensed that should reduce numbers too. Wait. That probably doesn’t happen does it? It’s too simple.

      It’s just like the iguanas – the problem has to get to epic proportions before anyone thinks about dealing with it by which time it’s almost impossible to deal with.

  10. Anonymous says:

    So let me understand this. The police logic is, let’s tell the people we are trying to prevent stolen cars and the best way to do that is fine people who have covers on their license plate because cctv can’t read It? Yeah ok. It would be better to just say you’re fining people with plate covers because police have a difficult time reading the plates. Let’s not get into the fact that I see many people get their cars PASSED by the dmv with said covers.. the hypocrisy is deep in this one.. and. Nothing surprises me anymore in Cayman

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Does this apply to taxis and omnibuses too, whenever I’m on island and driving it seems half of both kinds have obscured plates, but omnibus number is still visible. They need to follow the speed limit as well.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I thought the whole point of a number plate was to identify the car….so I don’t even understand why a manufacturer would make these covers, unless it’s for nefarious purposes.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Tell you what Police Service, start by un tinting windows and plates and just maybe the country will follow .Until then I doubt any conviction will stand up in court

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  13. Anonymous says:

    About time we move away from the idiotic policies of the previous CoP who disbanded the traffic department.

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  14. George Nowak says:

    Well its about time….and don’t forget the tinted windows…. Just walk through the parking lots of our supermarkets on a weekend night and the RCIP can issue hundreds of tickets.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Well, having viewed obscured number plates myself for donkey’s years, I can only conclude one of two things has occurred : the eyesight accuracy of RCIP officers has improved, or the cleanliness of the RCIP patrol cars’ windscreens has improved!

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Silly News People. Everyone knows that Cayman police don’t do “enforcement”. That would be culturally insensitive.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    And also parking on pedestrian crossings ESP the big red car parked every day on the crossing in GT by KFC!!!!!!!

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  18. Anonymous says:

    Tinted Windows? The window tinting problem still exists . With the exception being certain police vehicles that are surveillance or unmarked , but the rest of the public should be barred from dark tinting that is outside the law .

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    • Anonymous says:

      Think about it. The police surveillance /unmarked vehicles would hardly be covert if they were the only ones with dark windows. The idea is to blend in and not be noticed, not to stick out like a sore thumb!

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Glad the RCIPS finally hired someone that can read the Traffic Law. Hopefully whoever this is has the stamina to read all 18 pages, so they can explain its mysterious contents to the other officers? #welcometoyouroccupation

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Why do the Police have to keep advising people they are going to enforce the law(s)? Isn’t that what we expect to be done with our laws? Just get on with it – all our laws, or repeal them. The state of lawlessness in Cayman is terrible now (and if the comments on CNS about some of the election results are correct …).

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Maybe the cops should work on people speeding the roads here are like a race track

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    • Anonymous says:

      Even if it were just on Sundays and holidays – entire departments seem to take their days of rest very seriously, whether or not they are paid to be on duty.

  22. Anonymous says:

    How about banning car part stores from importing them! Why should people be penalized for purchasing something that was imported on Island by a business? If these are illegal, should the business owners be penalized for importing illegal merchandise? At the very least all plate covers should be confiscated from these businesses. No one should have to pay for purchasing something in a store while being under the impression it is perfectly legal.

    This is just another ploy by RCIPS to bring in some easy revenue. Why not sit at the round abouts and ticket people for not indicating? Or parking on double yellow lines by Camana Bay? Ton of other things I see being done on the road that are wrong, but because the RCIPS is incapable of patrolling out streets properly to prevent crimes, normal law abiding citizens will have to endure the mistreatment from these incompetent law enforcers.

    I thought these new plate had some kind of chip in them, so whether they are covered or not should they not be machine readable? Not to mention, regardless of license plates not being covered the CCTV on Island is useless and will still not provide a clear picture of any plates.

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    • Anonymous says:

      There are so many things wrong with your post it’s incredible. I don’t know where to start, in fact I’m not going to. The fact that you wrote that comment means that you are such an imbecile that you are extremely unlikely to listen to reason, so I shall simply wish you a happy weekend and hope that eventually your brain cell decides to replicate.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Hang on, it took you a four line paragraph to explain why you weren’t going to say anything about the poster’s comment because there were so many things wrong with it? Thanks for the intel, sportsfan.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Have long agreed that no merchants should be selling these!

      It’s permissive to sell these – like if we had a hardware store selling spearguns or bongs.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Not sure if serious or trolling OP. I’m hoping you are a troll personally.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    What about all the motor bikes running around without any plates at all!?

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Finally!!! Nice

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  25. Anonymous says:

    haha, to funny. ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

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  26. Anonymous says:

    When (or will it be if?) they stop a car with plate covers they should remove and destroy them right then and there. Screwdrivers or a small tool kit should be all that’s needed for removal and then a quick smash with a hammer would ensure they are not replaced as soon as this latest “clampdown” has faded into memories…

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  27. ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

    Wouldn’t it be awesome if the police enforced all of the laws?

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  28. Anonymous says:

    And what about the existing cars with no plates on the front (the old yellow plates)? Is this being dealt with at the same time?

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  29. Anonymous says:

    Well it’s about time! I can understand that each car owner wants their car to look different from everyone else, but covering up the license plate is certainly illegal and does not add any originality to the car. This only draws the wrong kind of attention to your car.

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  30. Anonymous says:

    Yes yes yes

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