State - Put tags in center of license plates

The state on Tuesday began urging Missouri vehicle owners to begin placing their registration stickers in the middle of their license plates, looking to stymie thieves who have cut off the lower right corners of plates to steal the tags.

By handing out fliers recommending the new placement, the state Department of Revenue hopes to prevent thefts that reportedly affected 35,000 Missourians from mid-2001 through May of this year.

If the stickers "are placed in the center of the plate, it makes it a little more difficult" to steal them, said Raymond Hune, director of the department's Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing.

Most of the drivers who reported tag thefts at the Cape Girardeau License Bureau had recently been out of town, said office manager Norma Wildman.

"The stolen tags here for the most part belonged to those who have been in the St. Louis area," Wildman said. "We don't really have a large problem with it here. When they call, I always ask whether they were in St. Louis before they noticed the tags missing, and most of them tell me they had been."

Drivers renewing their tags should put the year tag in the center between the plate's letters and numbers and leave the month tag in the lower left corner, Hune said. For motorists getting new plates, clerks will place the month and year in the center for them.

Motorists with vanity plates with no space between letters must continue placing the tag in the lower right corner.

"This solution was at no cost, easy to implement and no burden to the customer," Hune said. "Plus, I think it will eliminate the cutting of the corners."

Hune said his division began discussing solutions with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the governor's office, and police in St. Louis, where thefts of the tags were common.

Two other solutions were proposed, but each had problems:

Creating stickers that would be visible from inside a vehicle's rear window. The legislature has to change state law for this to happen, the cost is unknown, and law enforcers have concerns about being able to see the stickers.

Enlarging the tags so a duplicate of the plate number appeared on the sticker, enabling police to quickly see if the tag and plate match. But a pilot program at 20 St. Louis licensing offices was estimated to cost $500,000 for the needed equipment, Hune said. With 180 offices statewide, the cost would be $4.5 million.

Staff writer Mike Wells contributed to this report.