SF not as strict when it comes to ticketing for expired vehicle registrations: Here's what we found
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- If you're car registration has expired, you risk getting a ticket, right? Not in San Francisco. It was surprising to see that in a three block stretch, we found eight vehicles with expired tabs, yet not a single vehicle was given a ticket, not even a car which had a February 2024 sticker.
A license tab is the small yearly sticker that is placed on your license plate to indicate that the registration is current.
The responsibility for enforcing the law in this case, falls on the San Francisco Police department and the SF Municipal Transportation Agency traffic division.
But SFMTA says just because there is an expired tab doesn't mean that the car is not registered.
Here's where and when the problem started.
On March 16, 2020, the California DMV asked all law enforcement to "use discretion for 60 days in enforcing licenses and registrations due to the pandemic."
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The DMV then shifted from in-person to online services due to COVID. There were errors and delays with online processing.
So rather than ticket someone for what seems to be an expired registration, enforcement officers have been told to check in first with their dispatch center which has the up-to-date DMV information. Except that, one enforcement officer told ABC7 News, that takes time and time is money.
For example, it takes several minutes or longer from the moment a parking enforcement officer identifies an expired registration, makes the call to dispatch through a two-way radio, waits for an answer which may or may not result in a $121 ticket.
Ticketing a person for a $108 expired parking meter takes a lot less time.
Even quicker are street cleaning citations. From the moment we saw an enforcement officer record the VIN number to then printing the ticket from a computer device attached to her belt, took only nine seconds.
Failing to move for street cleaning is the top parking violation in San Francisco, by far.
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SFMTA reported from January 2024 to January 2025, 570,000 citations were issued which means the city brought in roughly $51 million for that citation alone.
In 2019 before the pandemic and before enforcement officers were told in 2022 to check in with dispatch, SFMTA cited 41,275 vehicles for expired tags. In 2024, that number dropped to 11,073.
That leaves SFPD to enforce the law, but legislation passed by the state assembly in 2023 to prevent racial basis in traffic stops, prevents police from stopping a vehicle unless the registration expired within two months.
A Stanford University study found that traffic stops can sometimes lead to escalation.
"So when you limit those types of stops, you don't have these interactions as much and you limit those interactions that can escalate into violence," explained Eleana Binder with Glide's Center for Social Justice.
Then in February 2024, the San Francisco Police Commission further restricted an officer's ability to make certain types of traffic stops even for an expired registration often referred to as a "pretext stop."
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"Meaning, that African Americans and Hispanic drivers are pulled over at a disproportionately higher rate and any traffic stop is a high risk encounter for the officer and the member of the public to escalate," said Kevin Benedicto, Vice President of the San Francisco Police Commission.
But if a driver is pulled over for a greater offense, only then can they enforce the expired registration violation.
Police numbers show that officers have been citing less. Expired registrations citations are down from 599 prior to the pandemic to only 21 citations in 2024.
Lyanne Melendez: "You understand that there are some people who are saying well, you are not holding people accountable, there is no enforcement. What do you say to that?"
Kevin Benedicto: "We're all aware we have a police staffing shortage in this city and with scarce police resources, we want our officer spending their time on what are the most high-valued thing, reckless driving, drunk driving and other types of traffic offenses where resources could be better allocated."
Meanwhile, San Jose has the same problem but they are stepping up enforcement to make sure that vehicles that are parked have the current registration. San Jose took DMV data for 2022-2023 and found that at least 4,200 vehicles with San Jose addresses had registrations that were more than six months expired.
