Crime & Number Plates

nightjar

nightjar

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When first reporting the kidnapping of Louise De Waal, Eyewitness news said several times that the bakkie had no number plates.

Over the years I have read many reports of armed robberies, drive-by shootings, hit & runs, kidnapping and others where the vehicles had no number plates.

One report that I actually enjoyed reading was about the death of two PAGAD terrorists whose bomb detonated prematurely in their unmarked bakkie.

Some of the worst and most reckless drivers have no number plates and are able to do whatever they want without fear.

Number plates are the basic foundation of law and order on the roads and a driver without number plates clearly demonstrates his intention to commit a crime of some sort and defeat the ends of justice.

I don't know about the situation elsewhere in SA but the authorities in Cape Town are not interested in acting against this particular offence when it could easily be stamped out within a few weeks.
 
Stamping it out would not be as easy as you make it out to be.
 
Number plates don't really matter. I can walk down the road here and have a set made with random numbers. The problem is there are not enough people out there to enforce the law/rules of the road.
 
...and false ones.

Some *****wit reversed against the side of concourse-condition classic car belonging to my family a few weeks ago.

I called in a favour from some...friends...as we had a reg' from a witness. The plates were false and we're left to sort out the @#%^ing mess.
 
This weekend on our way from bela bela at the road block after the carousel plaza 4 policemen were caught in a black VW golf with fake number plates. I do not know what happened to them and it was never reported on.

If we have corrupt police officers we will have people with fake number plates getting away with it.
 
Mila said:
This weekend on our way from bela bela at the road block after the carousel plaza 4 policemen were caught in a black VW golf with fake number plates. I do not know what happened to them and it was never reported on.

If we have corrupt police officers we will have people with fake number plates getting away with it.
Click to expand...

Crooks posing as cops?
 
nightjar said:
When first reporting the kidnapping of Louise De Waal, Eyewitness news said several times that the bakkie had no number plates.

Over the years I have read many reports of armed robberies, drive-by shootings, hit & runs, kidnapping and others where the vehicles had no number plates.

One report that I actually enjoyed reading was about the death of two PAGAD terrorists whose bomb detonated prematurely in their unmarked bakkie.

Some of the worst and most reckless drivers have no number plates and are able to do whatever they want without fear.

Number plates are the basic foundation of law and order on the roads and a driver without number plates clearly demonstrates his intention to commit a crime of some sort and defeat the ends of justice.

I don't know about the situation elsewhere in SA but the authorities in Cape Town are not interested in acting against this particular offence when it could easily be stamped out within a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Then they just put false plates...

They changed the law that your plates now need to be bolted to your bumper. Not that it will work, it does make it a little harder though.
But unless traffic cops start to really be hard on these plateless drivers, it will just continue.

Btw, you get more trouble for a fake plate than no plate. That is the reason people drive without plates vs false plates.
 
Mila said:
This weekend on our way from bela bela at the road block after the carousel plaza 4 policemen were caught in a black VW golf with fake number plates. I do not know what happened to them and it was never reported on.

If we have corrupt police officers we will have people with fake number plates getting away with it.
Click to expand...

Not sure if it is the same guys, but they did report this incident
Three Tshwane metro police officers were arrested for driving in a car with false registration plates on Thursday morning, the Road Traffic Management Corporation said.

The three metro police officers - in full uniform - were pulled over in a private vehicle during an operation on a major arterial route outside Pretoria, spokesperson Ashref Ismail said.

The number plates on their vehicle were screened using the automated number plate recognition system, and found to be false.

When asked to explain this, the officers said they were working undercover, Ismail said. Enquiries were made and this was found to be untrue.

They were stripped of their name-shields and weapons and detained at a nearby police station.

Ismail said he could not disclose the location, because the operation - dubbed Nomakanjani or "no matter what" - was ongoing.
Click to expand...
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Metro-cops-bust-in-car-with-fake-plates-20111006
 
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On the highways you see a lot of cars without number plates, its usually the guys who come flying past you and know the camera's cant get them.

I also seen a guys at the carwash with his number plates velcro'ed to his car - so that they can remove the plates as and when they please.

The cops should really be pulling over any car without a number plate – this never happens.

As for the fake plates, well I guess the first thing is to police people without plates as priority, then worry about the fake plates.
 
This is far too common. If they make drving without plates front and rear a criminal offence, then less people would do.

As for getting Metro or Traffic to pull the cars over ... a dead loss ... and this is why we have so much trouble.
 
R/SGT said:
Stamping it out would not be as easy as you make it out to be.
Click to expand...

Easy.

Heavier fines; say R3000 for one missing plate.

Cause MAXIMUM inconvenience to offenders.

Both plates missing would merit a car being impounded pending verification of ownership (which could be treated like the visa application of the dalai lama) and take a while.

Compulsory court appearance with minimum heavy fine would have a positive effect.

A few traffic officers on major routes into the city at peak times when traffic is barely moving. Cars could easily be pulled off where there is space on the verges like the M3 after Paradise Motors.

A roadblock on the airport approach would work wonders if a few drivers missed flights due to their own criminality.

Shopping malls & public parking facilities, including the airport, should look to their own security and refuse entry to offenders.

Certain static cameras probably “catch” the same offenders more than once and a pair of officers on motor bikes could chase and stop any unplated car that triggered the trap. Those drivers could be arrested for attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Most people are aware of the cars and number plates of their neighbours and a reward for reports about false numbers would go some way to preventing a large scale change to false plates.
 
Good ideas but hard to implement

One number plate missing, how do you prove that the driver was not aware that it was missing, I had my front number plate come of on the freeway (Still don’t know how) luckily I heard it fall and saw it bouncing behind me.

People would take these fines to court to fight them, thus clogging up the legal system.

Impound okay, but can you imagine the screams and lawsuits

Traffic cops pulling off people, first you have to get them to do it(lazy), there is also a danger posed when pulling off on a freeway and you may cause accidents

Good luck on the roadblock, the public would scream blue murder

Most public parking areas are automated, so that would be difficult plus how long would that last

Camera + cops would get slammed for been lazy and it would be seen as poor use of resources


Most people are aware of the cars and number plates of their neighbors and a reward for reports about false numbers would go some way to preventing a large scale change to false plates.
Click to expand...
Really are you aware, because I don’t know all the cars in my neighborhood and you would get so many prank calls it wouldn’t be funny

When I worked if we saw a car missing a number plate, we would follow and see if there was a second one, if there was we would run the plate and compare the result to the car we were following.

If there were no number plates we would attempt to pull them over and then check the license against the vin number on the vehicle.

You first have to spot the vehicle, and then stop it which can be difficult especially at night
 
The only way of countering this is for the cops to take the drivers details (maybe even drivers licence) and force said driver to report to the police station within 48hrs with proof of ownership address etc. In other words, should a vehicle be found without plates the driver's details would be taken, the driver would then need to report to the police station and in a situation where the offender is found to have committed some infringement or crime, he/she would immediately be fined/summoned etc. As the drivers details would be verified etc it could eliminate false ID's , driver's licences etc.
 
I'm sure our local cops would pull over a vehicle with no plates. False plates are a bigger problem though.
 
Traffic cops would definitely pull you over for no plates. They are just looking for an excuse to pull you over.
 
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