Monday, November 30, 2015
By Sean O’Brien
The Vindicator
Just last year, the Ohio License Plate Safety Task Force took an in-depth look at our requirement for front and rear plates on every motor vehicle registered in the state. During almost every legislative session, there is at least one proposal to do away with the requirement, so the General Assembly created a commission to weigh the pros and cons of the issue.
After a series of hearings, the task force determined that Ohio requires two license plates for good reasons:
License plates are a proven tool for law enforcement to identify and apprehend criminal suspects.
Front license plates give citizens, including public transit and school transportation drivers, the opportunity to identify an oncoming vehicle that commits an egregious safety infraction.
Front plates double the opportunity for a vehicle to be identified through a public or private facility’s security camera footage in the event of a crime.
Front plates enable drivers to see a parked vehicle after dark or an oncoming vehicle that hasn’t turned on its headlights.
The task force recommended that Ohio preserve its two-plate requirement. But, not surprisingly, that has not stopped the debate.
My fellow state lawmakers are currently considering two legislative proposals to repeal or dilute Ohio’s legal requirement to display both front and rear license plates on all motor vehicles. House Bill 159 would eliminate the requirement for front license plates, and Senate Bill 202 would reduce a violation of the law to a secondary offense.
I respect the opinions and concerns of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who support one or both of these proposals.
Community safety
But having spent a career promoting and protecting community safety, this issue is a very simple one for me. Prior to my election to the General Assembly, I spent more than 12 years as assistant prosecutor for Trumbull County in which I was the chief criminal prosecutor for the Eastern and Central District Courts.
I have seen firsthand the difference a license plate can have in solving a crime.
Dozens of crimes are solved each year from using front license plates in the 30 states that require them; those states without the requirement are missing out on the opportunity to solve and prevent more crimes.
Earlier this year, Whitehall police asked their colleagues nationwide to help them locate a murder suspect who fled central Ohio. New York police quickly found the suspect’s vehicle through automatic license plate recognition and made the arrest. Similar license plate technology helped to find the Virginia news reporter who shot and killed two of his former colleagues. License plates also play a role in countless other incidents, helping us find missing children in the AMBER Alert program and helping bus drivers and citizens identify hazardous drivers so they can alert police.
Motor vehicles play a role in many types of serious crimes in the United States. Any proposal to eliminate the front license plate will inadvertently help suspects evade arrests by making detection by patrol cars, security cameras and parking records more difficult.
I know there are people of goodwill on both sides of this debate. But none of the arguments I have heard from proponents of HB 159 or SB 202 outweigh this one: Ohio’s front license plate requirement makes us safer.
That’s reason enough to keep it.
Democrat Sean O’Brien of Bazetta represents the 63rd District in the Ohio House of Representatives