# Molly's Bill proposes new car plates



## niteowl1970 (Jul 7, 2009)

Molly&apos;s Bill proposes new car plates | Massachusetts | onPolitix

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Every 40 seconds in the United States a child goes missing, say advocates. They say those who are kidnapped are almost always abducted in cars.

Massachusetts license plates come in six number and letter combinations. Missing children advocates testified before the Legislature's transportation committee Wednesday, saying state license plates too hard too read and remember.

Over ten years ago, Magi Bish's daughter Molly went missing in Warren. Bish is supporting Molly's bill, which proposes to simplify state license plates into short symbol, letter and number combinations - what advocates call EZID plates - so that cars, a key tool used by child abductors, can be easy to identify.

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## CJIS (Mar 12, 2005)

Only reason they are hard to read is the suck paint that was put on them a few series back. As for as remembering them I don't think putting a star or heart on it will help all that much. I personally when I hear a bolo over the radio take a note of the number.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2011)

Exactly how are we supposed to input a star symbol into the CJIS system?


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## niteowl1970 (Jul 7, 2009)

Delta784 said:


> Exactly how are we supposed to input a star symbol into the CJIS system?


I'm sure CJIS and the registry will figure it out 3 years after the plates are issued to the public.


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

Sure, you can get one of those plates. But the RMV will bill it as a vanity for another $40.


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## Edmizer1 (Aug 27, 2006)

"_Every 40 seconds in the United States a child goes missing, say advocates" _ Maybe this stat has some truth to it. I'll bet 99.9999% of the missing kids are teens that have run away for the 18th time and their missing reports are just bumping up the stats. Our town had several group and foster homes open up in a short period of time a couple of years ago that catered to teenage "clients". After the "client" is about ten minutes late for their curfew, the home reports the teen missing to the police. They do it because if they don't, it will violate their agreement with the state and the home may not get paid.

After a couple of these "clients" went towards double digit runaway reports, I looked into filing CHINS or CHINS violations on the kids. I quickly learned that almost all of the kids were on "Care and Protect" (C&Ps) orders. I learned that a child on a C&P cannot have a CHINS runaway violation placed on them. If you have a C&P, you are basically immune from sanctions due to running away. Apparently, police can still arrest the runaways if they are out in the community but there can be no sanctions after the kid is brought to court. I'm sure this is part of the reason there is a kid missing every 40 seconds!


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## topcop14 (Jul 13, 2004)

How about the registry just stops useing 0 and O. That might make sense.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2011)

mtc said:


> Whenever there's a question - we all run it either way anyway.. no biggie.


A non-MA member of this site (I'm not going to out them, since they were so mortified and made me promise to not snitch) called me late one night after my shift because they were getting a bogus return on a MA plate. I took the plate down, called my dispatch, and had them substitute an o for a 0, and voila.....correct information.

Perfect example of the power of networking this site provides.


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## Oscar8 (Oct 28, 2007)

The state cant afford to give everyone one a ID to vote but they sure can waste a ton of money on these ridiculous plates cant they...
On a side note im sure coop Deval has a friend or relative that owns a software company that will make millions writing the software so we can type in hearts, circles and stars when running a plate!


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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

mtc said:


> Yeah - out of state is different - they wouldn't know.
> 
> At least we're not as bad as CT is with the "combination" plates, and ME with all their different wildlife plates.


Or Florida which has a commemorative plate for everything, all of them almost impossible to read because of the graphics.
Have you seen the new "The world will end on May 21" FL plate?
It has a bright light in the uppoer right hand corner, and the digits are rushing down a dark tunnel towards the light.


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## cc3915 (Mar 26, 2004)

topcop14 said:


> How about the registry just stops useing 0 and O. That might make sense.


Just like there's no i's or o's in VIN's, I can't see why they can't do it with plates.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2011)

GMass said:


> Or letters that are on the registration that aren't even on the plate!


That drives me crazy. Then I have to sit there flipping through the pages of ALARS plate types trying to figure out the prefix.

Listen, you either see the plate or you don't. Putting shapes, clown faces, braille, QR codes, etc. on the plates is not going to help and will make a LEO's job tougher. Many witnesses can't even get the gender, height, race/skin color of a person correct in a stressful situation, these new plates will not help.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2011)

The Bish's think that if the license plate had been "easier to remember", they might have solved her murder sooner. 

Sent from my ADR6300


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

right.as.rain said:


> The Bish's think that if the license plate had been "easier to remember", they might have solved her murder sooner.


Paper was developed in the 2nd century and the earliest form of the pen was invented in 500 BC. If they put these two things together, they would have no issue with "remembering" what the plate was. At least it wasn't a car with California plates; I think they are up to 8 or 9 digits now.

I write down plates all the time when something looks off - most of the time it's usually nothing and I toss them. If only they would use common sense as well.


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

I can't imagine what the Bishes have gone through and it would make sense that Mrs. Bish thinks that if she had remembered the plate that she could have done something sooner. But, it never sounded like the car was really that out of place to her until after the fact. She doesn't come off as the type of parent that would have just dropped her kid off and left thinking that there was something wrong. It would be more likely that she couldn't remember the plate because at the time there didn't seem to be a reason to remember it.

Like Frank, I jot down plates from time to time just in case something happens. Shortly after we moved in, a detective came by asking if I had noticed anything unusual because one of my neighbors had been broken into in the middle of the day. Since then, any time I see any vehicle that looks even remotely out of place or get a knock on the door from a gypsy paving company I write down the plate and the description. Usually I end up tossing the info, but if the detectives come knocking again I won't be unprepared. Funny thing is that while I've never used it, one of my neighbors did call in a suspicious man parked in a vehicle. It turned out one of my good neighbors was being followed to make sure he wasn't faking his herniated discs.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2011)

mtc said:


> I'd rather bitch about the morons that put those decals all over the plate - talk about a way to know the owners an idiot !!


I've had the same car and same license plates since 1994, so I've been through numerous registration decals. When I get a new one, I peel off as many of the old ones as I can, then put the new one over what's left. I've never had a problem with it ever coming close to falling off, so why do these people find it necessary to place 5 cycles worth of stickers all over the license plate like it's a Bingo coverall game?


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2011)

mtc said:


> Because they're fucking idiots, and or they cannot follow very simple instructions, and or, the simply cannot read English, or the other 3 languages they put on the card.


Thanks for my first laugh-out-loud moment of 10/23/11. :shades_smile:

I'm not exactly a Chapter 90 guy.....does anyone know if improper placement of the registration sticker/decal a violation of MGL?


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2011)

USMCMP5811 said:


> That's what they make 540 CMR 2.24 for..... a $35 reminder every time.


Your world frightens and confuses me.

Isn't there some provision that some CMR's are only good on state highways, and others have to be accepted by the municipality?



USMCMP5811 said:


> Or, Ch. 90 s. 6 same reminder.


Okay, that's something I can relate to.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2011)

mtc said:


> ONLY - when wearing your cover - hat - lid - yarmuke or hajib on your head !!


I say we avoid the hat/cover debate and go old-school like the 60's and 70's L.A. Sheriffs and start wearing helmets;

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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

Delta784 said:


> I say we avoid the hat/cover debate and go old-school like the 60's and 70's L.A. Sheriffs and start wearing helmets;
> 
> View attachment 3159


Well how about that. The only guy in the picture not wearing a helmet is the one that's most likely to take a dive down the stairs.


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