KENNER, La. (WVUE) – To crack down on a growing problem, the Kenner Police Department arrested nearly 300 people in a June crackdown on fake temporary license plates.

According to Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley, these counterfeit tags often signal more significant problems, such as driving without a license and lack of insurance, posing a physical and financial risk to law-abiding residents.

“They became beacons for a lot of other issues,” Chief Conley said. “One in four drivers we stop with a fake license plate are unlicensed or uninsured.”

The Kenner Police Department recently formed a task force to focus on stopping drivers with fraudulent tags, and Conley believes it’s making a difference. For many Kenner residents, the crackdown is a welcome effort to uphold fairness and safety in the community.

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“Obviously, those who break the law should be penalized,” Kenner resident Jaime Staub said. “Why should we suffer because you don’t want to get the right tags or license? The rest of us have to follow the rules.”

According to Conley, the problem is that it’s just too easy to get a fake label. To combat this, he urges state lawmakers to step in with a long-term solution.

To prevent the widespread use of fraudulent tags, Conley suggests that vehicles sold in Louisiana should have a permanent, registered license plate.

“I don’t see a reason why when you buy a car it doesn’t already have a hard plate attached,” he said. “Then we don’t have to deal with these false labels.”