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Posted by: girlcop21

The RMV has recently introduced a new plate series consisting of four numbers & two letters.

Basically, it makes it difficult to determine if the last character on the plate is a zero or the letter O. I discovered one of these plates on a MV stop, had to run the plate twice because I ran it wrong the first time. Probably developed by the same genius that picked the color of the decal for the rear plate that looks like the expired ones.

The new combination is: Number Number Number Letter Letter Number


Example: 123AB0 – the number zero is at the end of this sequence.

*** Due to the new plate/registration number combinations there is potential for confusion. The registry of motor vehicles has made it very difficult to determine between letters and numbers with the new plate series.


Due to the order of the letters and numbers in this new plate series, the potential exists for many problems in transcribing the characters. The major concern comes with the letters, S, I and O. It can be difficult to tell if the plates are number one or letter I, number zero or letter O, and number 5 or letter S.

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Posted by: Gil

Yes I have run into a few of these in the past few weeks, they are a pain.

456BM0 looks like the old green plate format of three numbers and three letters but it's not...

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Posted by: Sniper

the printed reg actually differentiates the Os and 0s............ 0O0O0O0O0O The plates are stamped the same size for both characters.......... FucKiNg mOrOns.........

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Posted by: 94c

If these highly intelligent morons want to go this route, then why not label it after the VIN and ban certain letters?

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Posted by: Inspector

Why don't they have standardized plates? I used to be able to tell which state a car was from right away. Now some states have so many different styles, insignia colors and characters that I have to almost walk up to the car before I can differentiate between the states. No it's not just my eyesight!

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Posted by: Sniper

back in '03, when I returned from being deployed overseas, I went to the RMV special plates office to order a Veterans plate. I wanted a plate with the letter 'O' in it. The guy, and his supervisor after I asked to speak to her, both toild me that the mass RMVs 'NEW' policy was that they were no longer issuing plates with the letter O or the number 0. So much for that bullshit story............ Seems Vanna White got hired over there and has alot of O's she wants to share..........

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Posted by: Portable81

Sniper, that's what I was told as well. Actually, I'm pretty sure we have a notice from the RMV on our PD bulletin board stating that the RMV will no longer be using the letter "O" in plates but rather they will all be zeros.

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Posted by: SUOKKO

What a terrible idea! I have come across a few of these they suck I always end up running them both ways.

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Posted by: bpd145

If you have a minute, check the CJIS News file. There was a bulletin posted in late September outlining the new plate mask and what letter/number combinations will and will not be used.

Also, sometime last year, the RMV began using 'squared-off' letter O's on their vanity plates. Only problem... the now looks like D's on a quick glance!

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Posted by: MtBiker

According to the news file it only applys to October plates at this time but they leave the door open to expand it. They will not use I, O, U and Q.

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Posted by: OutOfManyOne

It's only confusing to girl cops.

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Posted by: daveh

Quote:

Originally Posted by OutOfManyOne It's only confusing to girl cops.

Geez, looks like there are a lot of women on the force. Way to go girls!

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Posted by: 82PSTSB

I've run into a few of these also, and another, possibly easier way to tell if the character is a letter O or a number 0 is that the last number in the plate is the month that the plate expires. For example the October plates have the letters OCT in the top left corner of the plate, so with the the new combination of numbers and letters, the last character has to be the number 0.

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Posted by: justanotherparatrooper

Quote:

Originally Posted by OutOfManyOne It's only confusing to girl cops.

Gil...I think you just called a girl

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Posted by: JoninNH

Banned, IP address blocked. :P

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Posted by: CJIS

If they want to have Os and 0s they should just put a diagonal line through the 0.

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Posted by: girlcop21

Quote:

Originally Posted by npd_323 If they want to have Os and 0s they should just put a diagonal line through the 0.

that makes way too much sense; therefore the state will never do it!

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Posted by: CJIS

Quote:

Originally Posted by girlcop21 that makes way too much sense; therefore the state will never do it!

of course

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Posted by: Edmizer1

If they put lines through the zeros, people will complain that they look like 8s

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Posted by: spd722

Just wait, if that Sentor/Representive (forgot which one) gets his way plates are going to look like this: 1@$2^

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Posted by: Irish Wampanoag

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gil Yes I have run into a few of these in the past few weeks, they are a pain. 456BM0 looks like the old green plate format of three numbers and three letters but it's not...

I hate these plates now when I stop a MV I have to tell dispatch its a red plate it maybe 0 or the letter O. Not COP friendly!!!

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Posted by: Nachtwächter

Plates may eventually look a childs game.

http://www.operationlookout.org/look...MollysBill.htm

I can hear it now: Mass PC rainbow, sailboat, ball, doggy, kitty.

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Posted by: 94c

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nachtwächter Plates may eventually look a childs game. http://www.operationlookout.org/look...MollysBill.htm I can hear it now: Mass PC rainbow, sailboat, ball, doggy, kitty.

I think it would be better than the confusion that we have now.
A symbol at the beginning would allow you to use less digits and at least have some uniformity.

A symbol is easy to recognize. Then add the numbers.
Of course we would have to get rid of all the specialty plates that are out there for it to work.

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Posted by: j809

I want a 17 digit plate. Try to remember that.

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Posted by: bpd145

Just when we got semi-used to those three numbers, two letters all followed by a single zero (123AB0) plates, the good ole RMV has started issuing a single number, followed by two letters, ending in three numbers (1AB230) variation of the regular passenger plates.

Sooner-or-later they'll start adding those symbols, hearts, butterflies or something else just to add confusion. I believe Indiana has plates that have hearts and lower-case letters in the middle of the plate sequence. Most of our dispatchers can't figure out how to run a regular plate (if they ask for it when on the phone or remember to write it when we call it in) now... I better save that for another topic.

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Posted by: Nick

I was bored and I figured out that there are 2,176,782,336 different ways you can arrange a six digit plate using all 26 letters of the alphabet and 10 numerical digits.

Permutations with repetitions (from wikipedia)
When the order matters, and an object can be chosen more than once, the number of permutations is where n is the number of objects from which you can choose and r is the number to be chosen.

For example, if you have the letters A, B, C, and D and you wish to discover the number of ways to arrange them in three letter patterns

1. order matters (e.g., A-B is different from B-A, both are included as possibilities)
2. an object can be chosen more than once (A-A possible)

you find that there are 4^3 or 64 ways. This is because for the first slot you can choose any of the four values, for the second slot you can choose any of the four, and for the final slot you can choose any of the four letters. Multiplying them together gives the total.

n= (26 letters + 10 digits) = 36
r= 6 (number of characters on a MA license plate)

n^r = 36^6 = 2,176,782,336

Of course, that number doesn't include any low number reserved plates or vanity plates with less than 6 characters. So, if they could just turn zeros into "Ø's," we should be all set! If they eliminate zeros all together, we would only have 1,838,265,625 plate possibilities. I think it's going to be quite a while before we have 1.8 BILLION vehicles registered in the Commonwealth.

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Posted by: Tango

I remember seeing the idea of giving convicted sex offenders pink license plates..Im sure some liberal group put the kabosh on that...was a good idea though

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Posted by: spd722

Saw a new one tonight 456GP9 (not actual numbers) the two letters with the 9 instead of an 0 (zero) is new...

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