Nederland — Texas has banned temporary paper license plates, a change Nederland police say is already shifting how criminals try to hide their identities on the road.

The new law took effect this month, and paper license plates are no longer permitted in Texas starting July 1.

Nederland Police Chief Rod Carroll said the move was necessary because of widespread abuse of temporary tags.

“First off, it needed to be done. You know, we estimated that probably 70% of all the paper plates, which we call the the temporary plates, were fictitious that were on the roadway,” Carroll said.

With paper plates no longer allowed, Carroll said Nederland police are seeing criminals turn to stealing real plates instead.

“Since they’ve put that in place, what we have seen is an uptick in stolen license plates,” he said.

Carroll said stolen plates are often tied to other criminal activity.

“The main thing is the usually it’s a deeper crime behind that, such as a stolen vehicle, an unregistered vehicle, no insurance. Things like that. But more likely it’s, they’re putting them on vehicles that they’re going to use in a crime,” he said.

To identify suspects and track stolen plates, Nederland police are using license plate readers and the department’s real-time crime center, Carroll said.

“We’re learning and law enforcement to use technology to help us solve crimes and protect our communities. And that’s what we’re going to keep doing,” he said.

Carroll also urged residents to report stolen plates and replace them.

“We have to remind people is if you do report your license plate stolen, you need to go get new license plates, go to the tax office with the copy of a police report, let them know your license plates were stolen,” he said.

Even with the new law, Carroll said he expects criminals to keep adapting.

“I don’t see this issue going away. We close one door on criminals, and they open up another door, and that’s what they’re doing right now,” he said.

Nederland police also reminded residents to make sure to replace both the front and back license plates if their plates are stolen.