Local chiefs discuss new license plate format proposal

LYNN – Area police chiefs have mixed feelings about a state Senate bill that would reformat state license plates to make the plates easier to remember in hit-and-run accidents and other vehicle-related crimes.?I think it has possibilities. I?m not completely sold on it,” Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said about the idea to put universally recognizable symbols on state-issued license plates. “Maybe one shape on a plate would be good, [but] I think more than one shape could be confusing.”Coppinger?s comments come at a time Lynn Police are counting on public cooperation to solve a hit-and-run on Lynnfield Street on Jan. 12 that killed a 68-year-old Salem woman.The New England Association of Chiefs of Police (NEACOP) earlier this month endorsed the so-called EZ-ID Bill, which would direct the Registry of Motor Vehicles to issue license plates that combine the alpha-numeric symbols already used with easily recognizable symbols, such as triangles, squares and stars, according to a press release from Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr?s office. Tarr first filed the bill in the Senate in 2010.Coppinger, who said he saw a presentation on the product, is on the fence about the idea, while Peabody Chief of Police Robert Champagne said the proposal has merit.?Anything we can do to make the power of recollection easier for people, or reduce the number of things one might have to remember, I think serves everybody?s purpose,” Champagne said.The new plate format would, in theory, assist law enforcement by making it easier for witnesses to read, identify and remember the license plate of a motor vehicle used in the commission of a crime.?It seems to me to make a remarkable bit of common sense,” Champagne said. The bill would require license plates to pair up to four alpha-numeric characters with one easily recognized symbol. With the current license plate format, witnesses are seldom able to recall a full license plate, forcing police to run a check on thousands of vehicles to narrow the list of suspects. But symbols, in theory, are more easily identified.Champagne said that, as a member of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs Association, he fully supports the bill, though he admitted it?s often hard for people to pay attention to license plates during a traumatic situation, regardless of their symbols.?I think what happens here most of the time when people observe a motor vehicle accident and see a car going away, there?s some sort of shock or trauma involved and they?re not so much paying attention to the car as everything else going on around them,” he said.The EZ-ID bill, also known as Molly?s Bill, is named for Molly Bish, a teenager who was abducted while working as a lifeguard in Warren in June of 2000. Bish?s remains were found three years later, but her killer has never been identified. The new format would need five characters in most states, rather than the current six or seven. Fewer characters on the plates would ideally mean less for people to remember and would allow the registry to use a bigger, easier-to-read font.?It makes sense and I know there?s been a lot of research showing it?s a good idea,” Revere Acting Police Chief Joseph Cafarelli said. The newly appointed chief admitted he?s had a lot on his plate the past few weeks and, while he supports the idea in theory, he isn?t too familiar with the legislation.?I would certainly embrace any and all tools available to assist us in doing our job,” Cafarelli said.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].