Last week, Mayor Eric Adams vowed to crackdown on expired or illegal temporary license plates across the boroughs.

“You continue to see that New York City becomes burden of illegal actions being born in other municipalities,” Adams said at a press conference.

What You Need To Know

• The city’s Sheriff Department and NYPD of the 34th Precinct conducted a late-night street sweep towing vehicles with illegal or expired paper license plates


• City officials call them "ghost" cars because expired or illegal plates make them untraceable if involved in a crime, speeding in neighborhoods or evading paying toll


• Last week, Mayor Eric Adams vowed to crackdown on expired or illegal temporarry tags


• In total, 54 vehicles were seized and taken to a Queens tow lot for processing. The city says this will be a regular occurrence to get as many of these vehicles off the street as they can

City officials call them "ghost" cars. The vehicles have expired temporary or illegal paper plates, making them untraceable if involved in a crime, speeding in neighborhoods, or evading paying tolls.

The tow operation NY1 exclusively rode along with was part of a seizure collaboration between the city’s sheriff’s department and the NYPD late at night.

“This is when we’re targeting vehicles that are unoccupied,” New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda said. “They present a clear danger in the streets.”

Miranda says his department does this regularly, but this night’s operation in Inwood involves much more workforce.

“When we do this special push, we have anywhere between six to 10 tow trucks working with us, maybe about 10 different cars,” Miranda said.

Teams of officers survailed neighborhoods to search for the problematic vehicles. According to the Sheriff’s Office, there’s been a 300% increase in arrests for illegal plates and over 800 vehicles were seized since this time last year.

“The Sheriff’s Department has found weapons, narcotics and other illegal IDs and license plates inside these vehicles,” Miranda said.

All cars with illegal temporary tags receive a summons and notice from the sheriff's department stuck to its window. It’s also common for officers to find duplicate plates — a clear sign they’re fake.

“There’s nothing in here that’s authentic about this, this is illegal,” Miranda said while showing the vehicles with papered license plates.

Hauling these vehicles away is pretty straightforward, but officers come across individuals claiming ownership of vehicles and wanting answers. Some interactions are easy and others can escalate quickly.

On 191 Street, near Audubon and St. Nicholas Avenues, five vehicles were seized. First Deputy Sheriff Maureen Kokeas acknowledges some temporary plates may be legit and can be cleared up with the Sheriff’s Department.

“People who would like to redeem their vehicles would then need to come to the sheriff’s office with proper registration and proof of ownership,” Kokeas said.

In total, 54 vehicles were seized and taken to a Queens tow lot for processing. The Departments say this will be a regular occurrence to get as many of these vehicles off the street as they can.