Grand Prairie police officer's death reignites temporary license plate controversy
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Officer Brandon Tsai's death is reigniting the controversy over temporary paper license plates, as police say he was attempting to stop a vehicle with a fraudulent tag.
Grand Prairie's police chief had strong words about the lack of enforcement statewide.
The Chevy Malibu that Tsai was chasing Monday night had the same tag that's been captured on more than 200 vehicles in the DFW area, according to Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney.
"This is a problem plaguing the entire state. Burglars, car thieves are using these tags to conceal their identities and facilitate crime," said Scesney.
It's something John Dohmann, the former captain of a task force dedicated to combatting fake tags, warned about when the task force was dissolved in 2017.
"Oh, it just exploded," he said. "The fake inspections, I heard recently that might be 50% of the inspections that are going on right now."
The North Central Texas Council of Governments estimated that there are around 1 million fake tags on Texas roads. And they say the cost to the state and counties is a total of about $79 million.
They also said it's creating hazards for the environment and anyone on Texas roadways.
"It leads to the potential for vehicles that normally would have gone through mandatory emissions inspections, so they're circumventing going through there," said Jason Brown of North Central Texas Council of Governments.
Advocates for added legislation say there are glimpses of progress: last week, the Regional Transportation Council approved its program for the upcoming legislative session and listed combatting fake tags as a priority, but they say it isn't enough.
"Because you see what happens and you know, I feel bad for the city of Grand Prairie today," Dohmann said. "It's just it's a
terrible thing that happens every now and then, but this could have been averted.
