SLIDELL, La. — Slidell Police say they're seeing more and more fake temporary tags on the road. Louisiana State Police say Troopers see them too.
Slidell Police Sgt. Jake Morris says a car, which he says was stolen out of New Orleans had a fake temporary license tag. Sgt. Morris said, "They spotted a fake temporary license plate on a vehicle, they made a stop a vehicle, and low and behold the vehicle came back stolen when they ran the VIN number."
He went on to say, "We're seeing a lot of fraudulent temporary license plates." Sgt. Morris says officers are seeing them at least a few times a week. "It's nothing new to us, but it's becoming more frequent, almost a daily basis now."
Sgt. Morris says from the quality of the paper to the font, fake tags come in all different shapes and sizes. "The majority of them are pretty sloppy work and they stand out like a sore thumb." He says more often than not, those using a fake tag are doing so to evade police.
"Fake temporary license plates are being placed on stolen vehicles, you draw more attention to yourself if you don't have a license plate at all, keep the original license plate on the vehicle and a police officer runs it and it comes back stolen."
Pictures from NOPD show recent fake temp plates officers found and confiscated. The department says this was just over a three-day period at the end of June. When officers cite drivers- it can be for having fake temp tags, expired temp tags, or no tag.
State Police Trooper Tiah Larvadain says there are other reasons people use them. Trooper Larvadain said, "Possibly bypass the legal fees of legitimately registering that vehicle and obtaining proper insurance or just mimic a vehicle they already have that they have legitimate registration for."
She says while state police haven't seen a noticeable uptick in citations for fake temp tags, but Troopers do know what to look for. "It is a violation that troopers see regularly."
State Police say there are several citations they can issue to those found with a fake temp tag. Slidell Police say if they find you with a fake tag you could be charged with possessing fraudulent vehicle documents.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.