• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Advertise
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Subscribe
American Police Beat

American Police Beat Magazine

Law Enforcement Publication

  • Home
  • Leadership
    • A candid chat with law enforcement Explorer scouts
      Do you know your emotional intelligence?
      Addressing racism in the workplace
      Supervisory actions: Deliberate style or weak skills?
      Are performance evaluations worth the effort?
  • Topics
    • Leadership
      • A candid chat with law enforcement Explorer scouts
        Do you know your emotional intelligence?
        Addressing racism in the workplace
        Supervisory actions: Deliberate style or weak skills?
        Are performance evaluations worth the effort?
    • Editor’s Picks
      • The future is here
        A winding road
        Do you know your emotional intelligence?
        Law enforcement responds to tragic Texas flooding
        “Hold my beer”
    • On the Job
      • Legacy never dies
        Into the abyss
        A winding road
        Law enforcement responds to tragic Texas flooding
        I brought home a dog
    • Labor
      • Differentiation in police recruitment
        Building positive media relations
        LEO labor and community outreach — make the haters scoff
        Racing with a purpose
        Dallas Police Department drops college requirement for police...
    • Tech
      • Cutting-edge police technology
        One step closer
        New Jersey school district first to adopt AI gun detection and...
        Hawaii police harness virtual reality technology to train, secure and...
        The future is here
    • Training
      • Mentorship: Ensuring future success
        Unlocking innovation
        Training dipshittery
        Police Academy 20
        Using critical thinking to crack the case
    • Policy
      • Consolidation in action
        California lawmakers push mask ban for officers, raising safety...
        Proactive policing: What it is and how to do it
        California makes police misconduct records publicly available
        A bold idea for reducing homelessness in America
    • Health/Wellness
      • Pink patches, powerful impact
        Time and distance
        Meditation is hard because it’s not what you think
        Life off the clock
        Self-help for anxiety
    • Community
      • Back-to-school season brings out police support nationwide
        A bold idea for reducing homelessness in America
        Operation Brain Freeze keeps community cool
        Turning over a new leaf
        Bridging the Gap Between Cops and Kids
    • Offbeat
      • Not eggzactly a perfect heist
        Pizza … with a side of alligator?
        Wisconsin man charged with impersonating Border Patrol agent twice in...
        Only in California?
        Durango, Colorado, police hop into action after unusual 9-1-1 call
    • We Remember
      • York County ambush leaves three officers dead, others critically...
        Honoring the Fallen Heroes of 9/11
        Team Romeo
        National Police Week 2025
        Honoring Fallen Heroes
    • HOT Mail
      • The War on Cops Continues Unabated
  • On the Job
    • Legacy never dies
      Into the abyss
      A winding road
      Law enforcement responds to tragic Texas flooding
      I brought home a dog
  • Labor
    • Differentiation in police recruitment
      Building positive media relations
      LEO labor and community outreach — make the haters scoff
      Racing with a purpose
      Dallas Police Department drops college requirement for police...
  • Tech
    • Cutting-edge police technology
      One step closer
      New Jersey school district first to adopt AI gun detection and...
      Hawaii police harness virtual reality technology to train, secure and...
      The future is here
  • Training
    • Mentorship: Ensuring future success
      Unlocking innovation
      Training dipshittery
      Police Academy 20
      Using critical thinking to crack the case
  • Policy
    • Consolidation in action
      California lawmakers push mask ban for officers, raising safety...
      Proactive policing: What it is and how to do it
      California makes police misconduct records publicly available
      A bold idea for reducing homelessness in America
  • Health/Wellness
    • Pink patches, powerful impact
      Time and distance
      Meditation is hard because it’s not what you think
      Life off the clock
      Self-help for anxiety
  • Community
    • Back-to-school season brings out police support nationwide
      A bold idea for reducing homelessness in America
      Operation Brain Freeze keeps community cool
      Turning over a new leaf
      Bridging the Gap Between Cops and Kids
  • Offbeat
    • Not eggzactly a perfect heist
      Pizza … with a side of alligator?
      Wisconsin man charged with impersonating Border Patrol agent twice in...
      Only in California?
      Durango, Colorado, police hop into action after unusual 9-1-1 call
  • We Remember
    • York County ambush leaves three officers dead, others critically...
      Honoring the Fallen Heroes of 9/11
      Team Romeo
      National Police Week 2025
      Honoring Fallen Heroes
  • HOT Mail
    • The War on Cops Continues Unabated
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
Search

Policy

Texas police shine a light on “plague” of fake temporary license plates linked to violent crime

APB Team Published December 29, 2022 @ 6:00 am PST

Texas’ redesigned temporary tags are more complex and secure, with additional data and security features to facilitate law enforcement identification of counterfeit tags and increase the safety of traffic stops. (Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)

Texas police are voicing concerns over the roughly $200 million fake temporary license plate industry, which has been linked to violent crime and the death of a police officer.

“November 14th, we lost officer Brandon Tsai in the line of duty,” Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney, said in testimony to state lawmakers on the issue. “He was involved in a motor vehicle collision with while engaged in the pursuit of an individual that was displaying a fictitious paper license plate.”

Scesney continued, “This is a problem that is plaguing the entire state. Where violent offenders, burglars, car thieves are using the fictitious tags to conceal their identities and facilitate crime.”

The hearing came as the Texas DMV released a redesign of its temporary paper license plates to include a watermark of the state flag, along with data linked to law enforcement databases and other security features that can identify the vehicle’s owner and cannot be digitally replicated.

However, Scesney believes the DMV — whose previous director resigned due to criticism over the issue — can do more to combat the fraudulent plates.

“I think they’re moving in the right direction, but here’s the problem: even with the redesign, there’s nothing to stop you today from getting on your computer and creating a fake tag and printing it from your printer. In fact, I asked my staff to do it today, and it took about 45 minutes. I am definitely in favor of moving away from the paper tag. It is just too easy to be fabricated,” the chief said. “Anybody with a computer and a printer can make a tag.”

Since 2016, crimes linked to vehicles with fake paper tags have more than tripled, according to Crime Stoppers Houston.

“We’ve had a lot of high-profile crimes including murders that have taken place involving paper tags,” Crime Stoppers member Andy Kahan said. 

Kaufman County Constable Jason Johnson recently was involved in a pursuit of a vehicle with a fake tag. The suspect was arrested after a three-hour pursuit on charges of drug possession, with fentanyl, ecstasy and marijuana found in the vehicle.

“The fake tags, we are working on that every day,” the constable said. “I mean every time we turn around, there’s a new paper tag out.”

In 2021, DMV officials estimated there to be at least 1.8 million fraudulent plates in Texas printed by auto shops operating illicitly. The department expects the new design to reduce that number significantly.

“There have been some system enhancements to ensure the vehicle is legitimate and that the person is a bona fide employee of the dealership,” DMV Deputy Executive Director Roland Luna said.

In an April investigation regarding the fake tags, a Houston auto shop called “Kasniels” raised eyebrows after DMV records showed that it sold 236,642 buyer tags from July through November 2021.

Law enforcement said it was impossible for a dealership like that to sell more than 2,000 cars per day. Investigators estimate the market street value of those tags to be around $23 million.

Chief Scesney said he is pushing the department to make temporary metal plates that can be distinguished by the naked eye from fake paper plates.

“Our agency is very interested in doing anything we can to help fix the issue. We got a cop who lost his life, so it’s important to us.”

Categories: Policy Tags: fraud, DMV, criminals, paper license plates, fake, Daniel Scesney, Brandon Tsai, violent crime, Texas, Houston

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles

  • Cutting-edge police technology
  • Legacy never dies
  • One step closer
  • Mentorship: Ensuring future success
  • Differentiation in police recruitment
  • Unlocking innovation
  • Into the abyss
  • Back-to-school season brings out police support nationwide
  • Pink patches, powerful impact
  • NLEOMF thanks supporters for a successful Police Weekend

Footer

Our Mission
To serve as a trusted voice of the nation’s law enforcement community, providing informative, entertaining and inspiring content on interesting and engaging topics affecting peace officers today.

Contact us: info@apbweb.com | (800) 234-0056.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Categories

  • Editor’s Picks
  • On the Job
  • Labor
  • Tech
  • Training
  • Policy
  • Health/Wellness
  • Community
  • Offbeat
  • We Remember
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Events

Editor’s Picks

The future is here

The future is here

August 21, 2025

A winding road

A winding road

August 20, 2025

Do you know your emotional intelligence?

Do you know your emotional intelligence?

August 17, 2025

Law enforcement responds to tragic Texas flooding

Law enforcement responds to tragic Texas flooding

August 11, 2025

Policies | Consent Preferences | Copyright © 2025 APB Media, LLC | Website design, development and maintenance by 911MEDIA

Open

Subscribe

Close

Receive the latest news and updates from American Police Beat directly to your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.