San Francisco's City Attorney David Chiu and Police Chief Bill Scott are launching an initiative to combat the sale of illegal license plate covers. As per a recent press release by the City Attorney of San Francisco, cease and desist letters have been issued to Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart, calling for a halt in selling these illegal products in California.
Our Office has sent cease and desist letters to Amazon, eBay, Etsy, & Walmart to stop the sale of these products in CA, where they are illegal to sell & use. pic.twitter.com/KcJvyUzaFA
— SF City Attorney (@SFCityAttorney) November 1, 2023
Chiu and Scott believe the only reason for using such license plate covers is to evade law detection and abet crime. San Francisco Police often encounter these covers during investigations into sideshows, thefts, and robberies.
These illegal covers present a significant challenge to law enforcement nationwide. Obscured by such covers, identification of vehicles and criminals becomes difficult. The covers are also used to bypass traffic and pedestrian safety measures, including automated speed and red light cameras.
California recently passed Assembly Bill 645, to allow San Francisco and various other cities, to install automated speed cameras. However, this step is to reduce speeding, yet these illegal license plate covers could undermine such measures by making it too difficult for the license plate numbers to read.
Different forms of these illegal covers are available, including smoked, tinted, or warped covers; vinyl wrap kits that change the displayed license plate number; and electronic plate covers that can be activated with a remote control to hide the license plate.
The California Vehicle Code outlines it as illegal to sell anything that obscures or intends to obscure license plates. The penalty for violating this law is a $250 fine per violation. Regardless, illegal license plate covers are still widely available for purchase from Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart.
The city aims for these online retailers to cooperate with local authorities in stopping the sale of such illegal products to California residents, responding to the cease and desist letters. All four of these online markets already have policies against the sale of goods used for illegal activities.
Product descriptions and user reviews on these sites highlight that these license plate covers facilitate illegal activities by obscuring license plate numbers. For instance, an Etsy user stated that these covers let drivers "be extra stealth... with the police," while an Amazon reviewer mentioned they have "gotten out of a lot of tickets and red light cameras."
New York City has raised similar concerns about these products. Amazon has now halted selling these to New York City residents in response, as reported by the City Attorney of San Francisco news.
