The Problem with Current, General Issue License Plates
Perpetrators who commit crimes do not take public transportation. They travel in private vehicles.
What started as an initiative to help catch child abductors has evolved into a powerful public safety tool, for all reporting purposes. The statistics for child abduction are overwhelming. Every 40 seconds in the USA, a child is reported missing or abducted. This translates to over 2,000 children per day (under 18 years of age) or 800,000 per year. Of these 800,000 children reported missing annually, approximately 69,000 are abducted. 70% of all crimes committed, however, involve a motor vehicle. Perpetrators do not use public transportation to flee the scene after committing a robbery, murder, hit and run or abducting a child. They use private vehicles to travel in.
Random numbers and letters on license plates are too difficult to remember in a time of crisis.
The problem is that the random numbers and letters on license plates are too difficult to remember in a time of crisis, even for an adult. A young child has virtually no chance at all to recall such random information. By making all general issue license plates easier to identify, even by young children, we raise the risk level for these perpetrators and can help prevent many of these tragedies from occurring. EZ-ID is only for general issue license plates, it does not displace low number, vanity, or specialty plates, which are already more identifiable. This country made a powerful statement about protecting our children by spending millions of dollars on the Amber Alert System, but that system is ineffective if we cannot get the license plate information to post on these signs.
EZ-ID is the Solution
This legislation requires the usage of universally recognizable symbols on general issue plates for enhanced identification.
The solution to this problem is EZ-ID. It is the 1-2 punch with the Amber Alert System. With 70% of all crime involving the usage of a motor vehicle, EZ-ID may be the most significant public safety Bill in History. This legislation requires the usage of universally recognizable symbols on general issue license plates for enhanced identification and reporting purposes. In Massachusetts, the legislation, currently Bill S2387 (formerly S1798), is also known as “Molly’s Bill,” named for Molly Bish, who was abducted and murdered in June of 2000 in Warren, Massachusetts.
Though this legislation has been in the Massachusetts legislature for 8 years, the Bill has now been vetted and voted forward favorably by each study and review committees and is poised to become law in 2012, creating an EZ-ID “Task Force” made up from local, state, and federal agencies and representatives. EZ-ID has received an overwhelming number of endorsements from law enforcement, children’s groups, and institutions.