Above the law? No

The Gazette Editorial Board

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We can see the reasoning for issuing confidential license plates for a handful of government vehicles whose occupants are conducting investigations or other business where extreme discretion is important.

But we are skeptical that it takes 3,200 exempt vehicles to get that sensitive work done.

And it doesn't seem right that those thousands of vehicles are able to - literally - fly under the radar, eluding traffic-enforcement that watches over other drivers.

We're glad to see the state Department of Transportation is assembling a committee to review the approval and use of exempt license plates for government business, including whether those vehicles should be included in electronic registration records.

Iowa law allowing exempt plates has been on the books since 1939, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Andrea Henry told us this week. She said there have been no recent spikes in the exempt number but this year the law was revised to clarify the standards and use of that exemption.

Before, state agencies could simply request batches of exempt plates for their official vehicles. The new law limits those exemptions to state employees - such as inspectors, investigators, mental health professionals - who are “regularly assigned to conduct investigations which “cannot reasonably be conducted with a vehicle displaying ‘official' state registration plates.

“Now we need to work on how we are going to revise our process to make sure that they're falling within those standards,” Henry said.

Part of the review process will be a thorough accounting of exempt plates already in use, and whether they still qualify under new guidelines. Another question: Whether exempt plates should appear in electronic records accessed by law enforcement. We think they should.

A recent Gazette investigation revealed that because these exempt plates are not associated with any electronic vehicle registration information, they are not being ticketed by red-light and speed cameras in use by cities across the state.

It may be necessary for a few state employees to operate away from the public's prying eyes in justified situations, but that shouldn't put them above the law.

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