And, less common, but: a friend of mine had the tag scraped off her plate, while she was at work (car was parked in a lot all day). That's really bad, too. It meant that the person who did that, did not get their own car inspected -- and stuck (my friend's) current tag/sticker on THEIR plate . . . So, she had to go to the Registry and go through the procedure for a replacement sticker/tag, to replace her stolen one.
They quit using registration stickers on rear plates here in Texas in 1993, because of theft of them.
After that, they went to an interior, lower left, windshield combination inspection/registration sticker.
Before that, thieves weren’t so much stealing the plates, but the stickers, and placing them over their expired ones. The solution, until they changed things in ‘93, was to simply take a razor blade to your new plate sticker, and slice it into several pieces. The sticker stayed in tact, but, if someone tried to peel it off, it was
wayyyyy too much of a hassle to steal in the first place, and, in so many pieces, was even more difficult to put back together on the thieving scums plate…!!!!!
Plates being stolen these days are also much more difficult in regard to modern tracking tech.
Fake paper plates were also a thing here at one point, but that has now been dealt with, as well.
I was pulled over for a brake light out not all that long ago. The info that officer already had was pretty extensive. The only reason he asked me for my license, he said, was because he wanted to make sure I had it on me.
No ticket, just a warning, and to make sure I got it taken care of ASAP…!!!
