DOT review: Some Iowa undercover license plates are missing, misused

A review of nearly 3,200 undercover license plates in Iowa showed 167 are missing, 46 are used on vehicles that don't need to be undercover and 18 are used for purposes not intended by law.

The Iowa Department of Transportation will cancel 29 undercover plates for police agencies in other states and 13 plates for Iowa agencies that didn't respond to the state's request for information about how plates are used, according to a report released this week.

“It appears the majority of regular registration plates issued for government vehicles are actively assigned to a vehicle ostensibly being used for a purpose permitted (by law),” the DOT wrote in the 30-page report to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.

The DOT recommends a formal application process for agencies seeking to use undercover plates, which look like standard Iowa plates with the city/farm skyline, but don't appear in computerized files.

In the past, when a police officer would look up an undercover plate in a national database, the plate would not come up. The purpose of the plates, in use since the 1920s, is to allow some state employees to appear as normal drivers when the integrity of the mission or security of the driver would be put at risk if the vehicle is recognized.

The DOT now recommends adjusting databases so police can verify these plates without having to contact the DOT. Plates used for truly covert purposes, such as undercover drug investigations, should be registered under fictitious names, the report recommends.

The DOT also plans to require undercover plates be assigned to specific vehicles, instead of shuffled around within departments.

The use of undercover plates came to the public's attention after an April speeding incident involving Branstad.

State Patrol Trooper Steve Lawrence was clocked driving 84 mph in a 65-mph zone with Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds aboard. Officers pursuing the Chevy Tahoe didn't initially know the SUV contained the governor because the plates were not listed in computerized files.

Vehicles with undercover plates can't be ticketed by traffic cameras used in about a dozen Iowa communities, including Cedar Rapids.

Branstad ordered a review of the plates in July.

A Gazette investigation in August showed undercover license plates had been granted for utility vehicles, administrators' cars and for agencies not listed as eligible for the plates.

The Cedar Rapids Police Department reported giving undercover plates to administrators, including Chief Wayne Jerman, who do not regularly do investigative work. Utility vehicles, such as the department's boat trailer and a Jeep that serves as a mobile speed camera, also have the plates.

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office has 28 sets of plates not listed in computerized files. A pickup, inmate transport bus and cars used for school visits have these plates in addition to those used for police investigations, Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said in August.

Pulkrabek said Thursday he had not heard from the DOT about returning plates and did not anticipate any changes.

FULL DOT REPORT: