A vigilante patrols the streets of New York City, exposing motorists with illegal license plates and the very clever tricks they use to hide their true identity.
Gersh Kuntzman, 58, rides around the Big Apple on a bicycle armed with a camera to record the culprits and a marker and a screwdriver to fix their license plates.
But clearing the streets completely is an almost impossible task. Corrupt license plates are everywhere and, according to Kuntzman, the main offenders are police officers.
Violators’ tactics range from bending plates to cover license numbers to intentionally scratching off numbers and letters. Some even use magnetic, fake sheets or reflective covers to hide their dishes.
This practice helps criminals avoid tolls, speed cameras and red light cameras. Criminals can also use it to cover up crimes such as vehicle theft.
In New York, it is estimated to cost up to $100 million a year. But license plate tampering is a problem across the country.
Gersh Kuntzman films himself exposing a battered license plate in New York City
Kuntzman points a marker at the worn plates and redraws the covered numbers.
Some drivers even use magnetic fake sheets like the ones shown in the images to cover their license plates.
During a walk with Kuntzman on Thursday, DailyMail.com witnessed his eagle-eyed ability to spot culprits firsthand. And it took a matter of minutes to find two separate vehicles whose license plates allegedly violate New York traffic rules.
We met Kuntzman at 3pm outside his office in midtown Manhattan and picked up Citibikes for a tour of the “hot spots.”
He explained that hidden license plates abound around City Hall and in New York courthouses, including the criminal court where Donald Trump is currently being tried.
And that’s partly because police and court staff are supposedly some of the worst offenders, Kuntzman said.
The first case on our trip was in a line of cars parked in Federal Plaza, near the New York County Supreme Court.
But he wasn’t a police officer. Worn license plates indicated that the Ford Explored belonged to a member of the media, identifiable by the letters “NYP.”
Kuntzman pulled out his phone and dialer and started filming.
“Let’s fix this, make it look good,” he says as he redraws the license plate so that its numbers and letters are clearly visible.
He also checks the license plate number through a website that looks for fines tied to the license plate. The check reveals numerous traffic violations, the last one in April 2023.
“Maybe I’ll start getting those innings again,” Kuntzman adds after clearing his plate.
Nine minutes later, we were driving down nearby Vesey Street when Kuntzman yells, “Let’s stop here, I think I see another one.”
He points to a silver Mercedes-Benz that appears to have a number hidden in the front license plate. A check of the rear license plate shows that it also had a different number blacked out.
On the dashboard, a sign identifies its driver as “surgeon soldier in official medical affairs.”
Kuntzman checks this license plate and also discovers that he has received tickets for traffic violations repeatedly.
You press record on your iPhone and grab the dialer to mark the deleted numbers.
“This guy turned out to be a surgeon who can’t even operate on a damn license plate,” Kuntzman declares.
Just a couple of hours later, Kuntzman’s videos are shared on his Twitter profile, where he has more than 18,000 followers and has been viewed thousands of times.
He says he has already uploaded almost 250 videos denouncing license plate violators.
$100MA YEAR COST
Camera evasion in the New York metropolitan area, which stretches from the five boroughs across parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, is estimated to cost more than $100 million a year.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority loses about $50 million a year, while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s losses amount to about $40 million.
Kuntzman said he has noticed more altered license plates since the pandemic. He believes more motorists began engaging in this nefarious practice when New York City’s speed cameras began operating 24 hours a day in August 2022.
Kuntzman, a journalist who previously worked at titles such as the New York Post, Daily News and Newsweek, initially began investigating license plate tampering in 2018, when he became editor of Streetsblog NYC.
But his online campaign to expose bad actors took off in November 2022 when a lawyer and friend, Adam White, was arrested for trying to fix a motorist’s license plate.
White attempted to correct the license plate on a Chevy SUV in Brooklyn that had a piece of plastic covering one of its fingers.
The driver, who was still in the vehicle, called police and officers showed up and arrested White. He was charged with criminal mischief, but the case was later dismissed.
Gershman later wrote the song ‘Criminal Mischief’ under the band name Jimmy and the Jaywalkers, a Bob Dylan-inspired song that appears in many of his videos.
Kuntzman believes more than half of the culprits are police officers or work for other city agencies.
Gersh Kuntzman films himself fixing the license plate of a Mercedes in downtown Manhattan
Kuntzman estimates that more than half of the criminals he catches are police officers and links the behavior to the banners received by police and other city officials.
Officers are given signs that they can place on the dashboard of their vehicles while conducting official business. The signs allow them to park virtually anywhere without getting tickets or being towed.
Kuntzman believes that most police officers start by abusing their signs and then scratch them off to avoid the cameras as well.
‘Once you establish that they will not be responsible for [placard misuse]”Many other things in the police officer’s mind become permissible: covering your license plate to avoid a speeding ticket, crossing out a number to avoid being caught on a red light camera,” he said.
“When cops do it, they’re exactly the people who shouldn’t be doing it because they’re the ones supposed to enforce things like speed limits.”
Kuntzman typically searches for criminals while biking from his home in Brooklyn to his office in midtown Manhattan.
“What I think I bring to the table, and I’m proud of it, is that I have a very good eye for these things, because I’ve been looking at license plates for over two years, literally looking at every license plate I ride by, and now I see things that “People can’t believe they’ve seen them.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Kuntzman said it is “very rare” to be approached by a vehicle owner while fixing their faulty plates.
But his efforts to expose license plate violators don’t always receive a positive response on Twitter/X, where he shares selfies of his exploits.
Negative responses range from mean-spirited taunts such as “male Karen” to threats of violence against him.
But he is not fazed. Kuntzman plans to continue the campaign.
“I would say loudly that I should get a mayoral proclamation for the work I’ve done,” he says, perhaps only half-jokingly.
An NYPD spokesperson said: “All vehicles on New York streets are subject to the laws that govern the road, including vehicles owned by NYPD employees.” Commanding Officers are responsible for monitoring officer vehicles parked in the vicinity of a Department compound or facility to ensure compliance with both public laws and Department Policy.