Above the Law

Back in 1978, California lawmakers decided to create special confidential license plates that can't be easily traced, even by government agencies. It was supposed to prevent law enforcement officers from being tracked to their homes by criminals, but it has been expanded to cover a number of government officials and their family members. Now, some 1.5 million California vehicles carry the plates, and the Contra Cost Times reports vehicles with those plates regularly blow through local toll bridges costing the Metropolitan Planning Commission $10,000 a month.