Houston police officers continue writing tickets to motorists with brackets bordering their license plates despite a new law passed last month making it clear drivers should be cited only if the plate is significantly obscured. Since January, officers have issued at least 9,500 citations for what they considered license plate obstructions ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ generally the brackets advertising car dealers or touting sports and alumni loyalties. Municipal court records also show that since May 4, when Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill that clarified the existing law, at least 2,200 motorists have been cited. The new law doesn’t go into effect until September, but the zeal with which tickets have been issued since Perry signed it has angered some of the cited motorists and disappointed the two Houston-area lawmakers who clarified the rules during the recent legislative session.
The murder rate in Houston is climbing, auto theft continues to be a problem…and what are HPD officers doing? Well, if you guessed serving and protecting, you might want to guess again. Despite the efforts of the Texas Legislature, HPD officers are still enforcing one of the STUPIDEST LAWS EVER. Yes, the one that bans license plate holders that covers any portion of the word “TEXAS”…as if this state’s license plates aren’t already distinctive enough for your average HPD officer to be able to figure out which state an automobile is registered in.
Originally, the law looked like a naked attempt to allow Texas municipalities to collect some easy revenue. Stop a few otherwise law-abiding motorists, give them tickets, and just watch the money roll in. It’s easier and less politically risky than instistuting new taxes, although what you have in the end is little more than another tax, albeit one strongarmed from innocent Texans by police departments only too happy to capitalize on a cheap revenue-gathering opportunity. To refer to the law as little more than legalized official oppression would hardly be an understatement.
“It was never the intention of the Legislature for people to be receiving traffic citations for having license brackets,” said state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who sponsored the bill. “It’s clearly out of bounds for them to be issuing tickets now.”
If it was never the intention of the Legislature, then why was the bill passed into law to begin with? If there are legitimate issues with license plate frames (not that anyone has ever come close to making this argument), then shouldn’t the plates be redesigned to eliminate any alleged problem(s)?
He added a common complaint among motorists interviewed by the Houston Chronicle: “It gives the impression that they’re just trying to collect revenue.”
Gee…and why d’ya think anyone would come to that conclusion?? It’s like giving a license to the school bully to steal lunch money from those kids unable to defend themselves.
The Houston Police Department knew about both the substance and spirit of Williams’ legislation. The department’s lobbyists even supported the bill, along with an identical measure by state Rep. Bill Callegari, R-Katy.
Yet despite the passage, commanders say officers are still working under a more broadly worded law, passed in 2003, that was largely intended to prevent motorists from sneaking past toll-road cameras.
And it’s not as if HPD doesn’t have enough on their plate as it is. Chronically understaffed, HPD consistently struggles to respond to calls in a timely manner. Ask anyone who’s reported a stolen vehicle in the city of Houston recently, and they’ll probably tell you that they had to wait up to a couple of hours for an officer to respond- if indeed one ever did. Why HPD officers continue to waste their time harrassing vehicle owners with the temerity to be in possession of license plate frame is beyond me.
“I’m bothered by the fact that the authorities might see fit to continue to give out tickets,” Callegari said.
In their defense, police commanders note that the state’s highest criminal appellate court has ruled that, because of the 2003 prohibition’s wording, the ban technically extends to any covering of a license plate.
Perhaps, but wouldn’t common sense and manpower realities seem to dictate the officers deal with actual, honest-to-God CRIMINALS? You know, murderers, rapists, that sort of thing?
I (thankfully) don’t live in Houston, but I do spend a good deal of my time there. I really do admire what Mayor Bill White has managed to do in his continuing efforts to improve city services. That the scourge of license plate frames and HPD’s brave and tireless attempts to eradicate the “problem” has escaped his attention thus far surprises me.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
