Locals alter license plates, goal to make frames legal

Last week, attorney Michael Urbano said 100 people had the frame or their license plate adjusted to meet the new law that went into effect yesterday requiring the word "Arizona" to be visible.

Now he's going to do it again, Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parking lot at Fry's at 40th Street and Chandler Boulevard.

The law was passed by legislators in 2006 but didn't go into effect until Jan. 1. The delay was intended so that motorists and license-frame manufactures had plenty of time to change the design to make sure the state was visible.

Urbano also said police will use a license frame that obscures the plate to justify pulling vehicles over just to see if something "fishy" is happening.

Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman, said he didn't expect a sudden shift by patrol officers to cite motorists.

"We would treat it as any other change to the vehicle code," Thompson said. "Besides, most officers have better things to do."

But he did say that it is illegal to obscure the plate and that is because police need all the information possible to solve crimes.

"It really does help us to solve crimes," Thompson said.