Local police chiefs expressed concern about the cost to purchase license plate reader technology and the elimination of the vehicle registration stickers by the state Department of Transportation.
The elimination of the registration stickers by 2017 is part of Act 89, the state’s transportation plan signed by former Gov. Tom Corbett in November 2013.
The last registration sticker will be issued Dec. 30. Vehicle owners will still have to register their vehicles with PennDOT. Motorists can also print their registrations after accessing their account online.
PennDOT said the elimination of registration stickers will save about $1 million a year in production costs plus more than $2 million a year in mailing costs.
The department has said it is proposing a grant program for the license plate readers. Exact details were not available.
“We do not have one (a license plate reader), and this is a problem for many police departments,” Minersville Police Chief Michael Combs said March 1.
He said local police departments will likely have to buy the readers and additional supporting equipment such as a computer that will be expensive.
The Tamaqua Police Department is one local police department that has a license plate reader.
“I think it’s a bad idea and it’s going to push the cost onto local municipalities,” Combs said about the readers he understood might cost a couple thousand dollars.
Alexis Campbell, community relations coordinator, driver and vehicle services with PennDOT, said Friday the unit, which includes the reader and other necessary components, could cost about $18,000 each.
Combs said the borough relies heavily on the appearance of the stickers on vehicles as patrol officers are doing their daily rounds.
“Here in town we look for these all the time. If it’s an (invalid) inspection sticker, we just put a ticket on the car, if it’s an invalid registration we tow them because legally you cannot have an unregistered vehicle,” he said.
Several vehicles were towed this month and last month because they did not have appropriate vehicle registration, Combs said.
The fine for an expired registration is $25 in the borough. He said the borough has an ordinance that a vehicle will be towed if its owner does not have a valid registration. Combs said he will ask the council for a license plate reader for the 2017 budget or see if he has any available funds for a reader.
He did say people often steal the stickers and apply them to other vehicles.
He is not optimistic of local police departments getting funds for the readers from the state because he said that will likely go to larger areas.
“The chances of us (in the county) getting grant money for these plate readers is pretty remote. I would be more than happy for someone to prove me wrong and get me some grant money for the plate readers,” Combs said.
Pottsville Police Chief Richard F. Wojciechowsky said the potential costs for police departments and municipalities could be a “big hurdle” to overcome. He said he has not made a decision on how the technology will be paid for. Obtaining grants is certainly one way to pay for the cost of the readers.
“Once the readers are in place, I think it’s a very valuable tool for officers,” he said.
He said the stickers are a “quick observation tool” for police. He agreed that stickers can be stolen and placed on other vehicles. Using a license plate reader isn’t more intrusive, he said, and could lead to more efficiency.
Schuylkill Haven Police Chief Jeffrey Walcott is also concerned about cost for the readers and the elimination of stickers.
He said eliminating the stickers could be a good idea if all departments have access to the license plate reader technology.
“It should be, in theory, better,” he said.
Foster Township Police Chief James Nettles said he also has concerns about the change.
“That sticker could lead to many other issues than just the sticker itself,” he said, adding it could be drugs or other law violations.
He also is not optimistic about any grants.
“What you see on paper is not what you are going to get,” he said, adding the details have yet to be finalized for any grants.
The department does not have computers in its patrol vehicles. He has not decided yet how the department is going to pay for the cost of the device and accompanying equipment.
He said there are also privacy concerns about the use of the technology.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said about how the transition proceeds.
A 2011 study by the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, which is Penn State University’s transportation research center, found that “there is no statistically significant impact on the number of vehicle registrations, the ability of police to make drug arrests or on the number of motor vehicle thefts,” the study said, which was sponsored by PennDOT, Bureau of Planning and Research. The study is available at www.dmv.pa.gov.