NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A multi-agency "sting operation" against drivers with "ghost" plates took place at the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and at the bridges into Lower Manhattan on Monday.
The crackdown against so-called “ghost cars”—or cars with fake, obscured or missing plates—launched last March, and it will continue this year, with congestion pricing now in full swing.
Agencies that include the NYPD, MTA Police, Port Authority Police and New York State Police are part of the joint operation that was working the tunnel, as well as the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, on Monday.
Deputy Chief Thomas Alps, of the NYPD's Transportation Bureau, said in addition to avoiding tolls, such vehicles can be linked to crime.
“From the PD’s standpoint, this is a threat to our public safety and traffic safety,” Alps said. “Sometimes they’re using stolen plates, sometimes the plates are fraudulent.”
Among the plates police are searching for, according to Alps are plates that are scratched off; plates with masking tape changing the lettering; fake paper plates; and plates obscured by coverings.
While congestion pricing has been top of mind lately, phony plates are a decades-old problem in the city. Cathy Sheridan, president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, said the agency hasn’t noticed a major increase since the tolling program started earlier this month.
“The fake and altered plates is a pretty flat number is what we’re seeing,” Sheridan said.
Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams said his administration had removed 80,000 ghost cars and other illegal vehicles from the streets.
