San Francisco authorities on Wednesday announced legal action against major retailers to prevent the sale of illegal license plate covers that allow criminals to evade law enforcement.
City Attorney David Chiu and police Chief Bill Scott detailed the legal action during a news conference Wednesday morning, identifying four websites that sell the illegal products intended to obscure the license plate number and evade police, tolls and tickets.
Chiu said the electronic covers are available online from major retailers Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Etsy, and his office has sent cease-and-desist letters to each of those companies.
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Products that electronically cover, tint, warp or blur a license plate number are illegal in California.
Chiu and San Francisco police believe the products are popular with those participating in illegal sideshows.
"The only reason someone would put a cover like this on their license plate is to get away with a crime," Chiu said in a statement. "These products are illegal to sell and use in California. Both the sellers and users of these illegal license plate covers need to be reminded of that. We are bringing this to the attention of these large retailers, and we are hopeful they will do the right thing and stop selling illegal license plate covers to California residents."
Scott said police also find license plate covers on cars used in robberies and burglaries, making it difficult for them to catch the criminals. Others have obscured their license plates to avoid paying bridge tolls or to evade red light cameras.
"When we're able to detect license plates, oftentimes the results and the outcomes are good," Scott said. "We find the cars, we find the people, we find the property, we get people's property back to them, and we prosecute those through our district attorney who commit these crimes."
Illegal license plate covers come in several forms, according to the City Attorney's Office:
- Vinyl wrap kits that allow users to wrap their real license plates in a vinyl cover and change the license plate number displayed.
- Smoked, tinted, or warped covers that make it difficult to read the license plate number.
- Electronic plate covers that hide a license plate either through a mechanical drop down cover or curtain-like mechanism. A driver can initiate the cover mechanism from inside their vehicle using a remote control.
The City Attorney's Office said Walmart and eBay have responded, agreeing not to sell license plate covers to Californians.
New York City took similar legal action against the sale of license plate covers, and Amazon said the products would no longer be sold to residents there.
NBC Bay Area's Emma Goss contributed to this report.
