On patrol with the NYPD: A ride-along with Staten Island cops hunting for bogus license plates

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is the second of two detailing the NYPD’s efforts to crack down on drivers with fake license plates.

Part One: ‘We’re done with the warnings.’ NYPD cracking down on fake, obscured license plates on Staten Island

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It’s been less than five minutes since a handful of NYPD vehicles departed the 121st Precinct stationhouse in Graniteville, and officers have already initiated a traffic stop of an SUV they say has been detected with a fraudulent license plate.

An Advance/SILive.com reporter, photographer and other members of the press participated in a police ride-along with Assistant Chief Joseph Gulotta, the NYPD borough commander, the NYPD Community Response Team (CRT) and officers from the 121st Precinct on Tuesday afternoon to see firsthand how police are cracking down on so-called “ghost cars” — vehicles with false or doctored license plates that make them unreadable to red light, speed and toll cameras.

As traffic begins to back up behind the group of police vehicles pulled over on Richmond Avenue in Bulls Head, members of the Community Response Team discover that the driver of the SUV is allegedly in possession of a paper license plate. A check on the car becomes more complicated as it was originally registered in New York, but the suspicious plate is from out-of-state.

Members of the team begin conducting a more thorough investigation.

Police read license plates by both sight and with the use of license plate readers that can scan plates in real time directly from police vehicles.

Should the reader come back with a positive hit, officers are alerted to a potentially fraudulent plate.

Police say that the false or obscured plates are often being used in the commission of more serious crimes and that the situation has become a quality-of-life issue.