New Array of Vanity Plates Blurs Enforcement Efforts : Vehicles: Despite fund-raising successes, a state task force has recommended that the Legislature reject future special-interest designs.

They announce alma maters, party affiliations, military service and favorite causes.

California license plates no longer come in just white or blue. Increasingly, the new special-interest plates bear full scenic illustrations, college decals or emblems honoring veterans.

“People are using their cars to say something about themselves,” said Bob Hanson, executive director of the Yosemite National Park Fund, which has sold almost 30,000 plates.

The special plates also are raising millions each year for environmental groups, philanthropies, hobby groups and even government agencies. Of the 26 million registered cars in California, 2.2 million have specialized tags, and that number is increasing by the thousands each month, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

But some law enforcement agencies have a problem. The fancy plates, they say, obscure the numbers.

“I understand the need for people to express their individuality, but we’re in the business of law enforcement,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said. “We’re concerned that the number of different styles of plates out there may affect the way we apprehend criminals.”

A report compiled by a task force from the DMV, California Highway Patrol, state Department of Justice and Sacramento Police Department concludes that “full-plate graphics interfere with plate legibility.” The task force makes a number of recommendations to the state Legislature, including outlawing future special-interest plates.

The Yosemite plate currently is the only one with full graphics. But another one from the Lake Tahoe Conservancy will be released next year, and three others are pending.

Some officers agree with the DMV report, saying the plethora of plates hinders their ability to identify whether a plate is even local or out-of-state, much less read the numbers.

“Some have graphics with colors that blend in with the letters and numerics of the plate,” said CHP Officer Lauren Dummer, a spokeswoman for the CHP commissioner’s office in Sacramento. “. . . If you can’t clearly see the license plate number, you miss a digit, enter it incorrectly and the computer comes back with the wrong information, you might have just let a suspect go.”

But other officers say the reverse may be true; that the signs and symbols on the various plates can help them and witnesses remember a suspect’s car.

“That kind of stuff catches people’s eyes,” said Sgt. Jeffrey Klug of the CHP’s Santa Ana office. “I think it can be more of a benefit for people to report crimes on the freeway. With partial plate information like the symbols and signs on specialized plates it would help us pin it down.”

Car owners pay an extra $30 to $50 a year for the plates. The DMV currently offers about 45 different special-interest tags, representing, for instance, the California Firefighters, UCLA and even the Public Utilities Commission. Drivers can buy plates announcing that they are former prisoners of war, Medal of Honor winners, Pearl Harbor survivors, press photographers, ham radio operators or constables.

State Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange) even is proposing to force repeat drunk drivers to buy licenses plates labeled “Convicted Drunk Driver.”

In the report by the state task force, many of the 237 officers interviewed said one of the most illegible plates was Yosemite’s, a blue and green illustration of Half Dome. But the designer plate generates about half of the fund’s $1-million annual budget for park restoration and preservation.

“We’re funding things that just are not getting done with the operations of the park,” Hanson said.

Since the plates were made available in 1993, the fund has been able to support 40 different projects, including repairs of about 800 miles of trail, landscaping of the Merced River’s banks and expansion of the park’s nature centers.

State law requires passage of legislation for each new plate. Once that happens, the sponsoring group must enlist at least 5,000 prepaid applicants before the plates are produced and issued.

As the vanity tags continue to gain popularity, DMV official Maria Barajas said, more groups are showing interest. She receives about a dozen calls a week from groups such as realtor associations, high school alumni groups, Native Americans and public libraries. Even the Orange County Board of Supervisors has inquired about having a plate, she said, but hasn’t pursued it.

Although the DMV is supportive of these efforts, she said, they do create paperwork. Every time a new plate is produced, all law enforcement agencies must be notified so that they can recognize it.

“DMV doesn’t have a vested interest in these tags,” Barajas said. “The groups are the ones that benefit, which is a great concept. But when you are looking at it from a law enforcement viewpoint, there are definite problems.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Poor Visibility

A Department of Motor Vehicles study concludes that decorated California license plates are difficult to identify, which hampers law enforcement. Results of the legibility study:

Plate Type

Regular

Readability range: 120-135 feet

Legibility: Excellent

Kids

Readability range: 118-135 feet

Legibility: Excellent

UCLA

Readability range: 119-126 feet

Legibility: Very good

Arts

Readability range: 92-100 feet

Legibility: Poor; background partially obscures numbers

Yosemite

Readability range: 91-93 feet

Legibility: Very poor; background obscures definition of numbers, letters

Source: Department of Motor Vehicles