State yanks unmarked license plates

From KRQE-TV.com - by Kim Holland - For the past decade, hundreds of state officials have been cruising around New Mexico in government cars with regular, non-government license plates. Now, after News 13 began asking questions, a state official said the plates never should have been issued and that the practice will no longer continue. “As they get renewed, we’re not going to renew them with a street plate,” said Demesia Padilla, cabinet secretary of the Tax and Revenue Department. “They’re going to have to fill the requirement to get an undercover plate.” By law, the state can issue “undercover” license plates to select employees like police officers, employees of the Children, Youth and Families Department and agents at the Tax and Revenue Department, she said. Those employees must meet particular criteria in order to be issued the undercover plate. The plates are meant to help investigators do their jobs. However, over the last 10 years, the state has issued about 700 “street plates,” which are different than undercover plates, to various state agencies. It’s unclear exactly why those agencies wanted or needed the non-government plates. “I don’t know what people’s intentions are once they get these plates,” Padilla said. Still, when her staff began looking into the issue, they discovered that the department has no statutory authority to issue street plates, she said. “There wasn’t really tight controls on it,” Padilla said. Read more

State yanks unmarked license plates