DOCUMENT: Crime

URPL8SUX: Licensed To Offend

Letters of complaint about crude, off-color New York State tags

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URPL8SUX: Licensed To Offend

SEPTEMBER 1--With the last big summer weekend here, it's time to pile into the car, hit the road, and scope out the offending license plates on your fellow motorists's ride. As with every other state, crafty New Yorkers are determined to slip decidedly distinctive tags past the personalized plate censors at the Department of Motor Vehicles (which provided the below letters to us following a Freedom of Information request). And, sadly, there seems to be an equal number of Empire State residents ready to snitch to the DMV when they spot such tags. As we've seen in other states, the offending plates often include anatomical references, crude abbreviations, foreign language vulgarities, and messages that only become clear when seen through a rear-view mirror. While impressed by BIGPNS, 3M WOJ8, and EFF EWE 2, our favorite issued plate to cause public consternation is POTVINSUX. As hockey fans know, that's the classic, use-it-anywhere chant developed by New York Rangers fans and directed at the hated Denis Potvin, a star defenseman with the rival New York Islanders. Oh, and 2HOT2DOU was a nice touch. (17 pages)