On Saturday, the Denver Police Department will begin a month-long enforcement operation that is crucial to combatting crime — even if it also can be an annoyance for some of the motoring public: ensuring vehicle registration is up to date.
Granted, the cost to the law-abiding driver to register a car and display updated plates has soared over the years. But that’s not the fault of local law enforcement, which gets none of the revenue. Blame the money grab on our legislature and governor for attaching so many dubious fees to the price of keeping your vehicle current. Coloradans have every right to hold the state government accountable as to where that money actually goes — a separate debate.
But, cost aside, a much-needed and overdue crackdown on out-of-date plates in Denver is the tip of the spear in addressing crimes large and small, isolated and at scale. Just as New York City cleaned itself up in the 1990s with its “Broken Windows” policing policy — not letting small stuff slide, like the New York subway’s turnstile jumpers — citing motorists for driving without up-to-date vehicle registration is a necessary part of the city’s return to law and order. Double-checking vehicle registration is in fact an essential tool enabling police to ensure cars haven’t been stolen or implicated in other crimes…