Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz and the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association (BSSA), of which he is president, are backing a bill introduced to the State Senate this week that would make front license plates mandatory in Ohio once again. 

The bill, known as S.B. 179, is sponsored by Republican Senators Joe Uecker and Jay Hottinger.

Although the current legislation that eliminated the requirement to display a front plate does not go into effect until July 2020, law enforcement are worried about the negative impact the law would have on daily police work and investigations. 

“They couldn’t really it get it passed itself, so it got slipped into the budget bill, and when the budget bill passed, this law passed,” said Lutz. “So the governor did buy us some time by saying that the law did not go into effect until July of 2020.”

In the meantime, it is still state law to have a front license plate.

Now legislators are working to pass a new law that would stop the current legislation from going into effect, and law enforcement is backing it. 

“I couldn’t begin to tell you how many cases that would not be solved without that front plate because it gave us a starting point,” said Lutz. “I talk about that a lot with our public that we need a starting point. We need a place to start to solve crime.”

Lutz explained that officers use license plate numbers to identify vehicles associated with active warrants, felons, stolen vehicles, missing persons, abductions and other crimes. 

The front license plate is also crucial during traffic stops, not only for officer safety, but in the prevention and interception of crime.

“There’s no doubt about the fact that we use that infraction a lot for traffic stops. It is a huge tool in the tool belts of our officers,” said Lutz. “Traffic stops are one of the simplest and easiest ways to deter crime and to interrupt crime.”

Lutz estimates over 90 to 95 percent of crimes involve a car at some point. 

“They’re either using the car to get to the crime, they’re either using the car during the crime or using it afterwards,” said Lutz. “When you take the front license plate off, that is literally taking 50 percent of our ability to identify that vehicle away, and so it’s not rocket science to know why we’re supporting this.”

A front license plate also gives citizens reporting crimes an improved chance of catching the plate number before a vehicle leaves the scene, Lutz said. 

“Most of your school bus infractions are coming at the school bus, and the driver of the school bus looks down and sees that front plate and can report that crime,” said Lutz. 

Lutz said many who argue for the elimination front license plates are doing so to increase used car sales in areas like Cincinnati where buyers from surrounding states do not need a front plate. 

The estimated figure that Lutz has been given regarding the revenue generated by the elimination of front plates is a little over $1 million. 

“Which, in the scope of things, is very minor as a fundraising effort,” said Lutz. “When you start comparing it to not being able to solve crime, not being able to find missing kids, not being able to find missing seniors, abducted kids or again, solving heinous crimes, that seems like a very small price to us as the BSSA for removing that front plate.”

Senate Bill 179 will next move to Senate Committee for further consideration.