The Metro Council’s recent vote to expand the use of license plate readers gave me hope for a new weapon against one of my pet peeves: expired tags.

Misguided hope, as it turns out.

The peeve is perhaps related to the fact that, on my very first weekday in Nashville back in 1990, a Metro cop stopped me and gave me a ticket for my expired (Mississippi) tag. I don’t remember what the fine was – and think it may have been dismissed when I showed a judge proof of my buying a valid Tennessee plate, which I did forthwith.

Still, the whole thing stung. Not exactly the kind of “Welcome to Nashville!” reception I’d been hoping for.

And if you follow this column (who wouldn’t?), you might be aware that I’ve touched on the issue of license plates several times before, chiefly in connection with Tennessee’s new plate design and the optional feature for it to include “In God We Trust.” (God tags win statewide, but Davidson Countians opt for secular plates by 4 to 1.)

Another feature of the new tags is that they make it easy to tell who hasn’t bothered to keep their registration up to date. I’m not keeping a tally, but I have noticed a rather dismaying number of the expired version. I saw one in my neighborhood the other day that hadn’t been updated since 2020.

I don’t think officials are failing to remind people of the law. In fact, in a totally chance quirk of fate, I received notice of the need to renew the tag for my Jeep while writing this column. I quickly got online, provided the necessary information and arranged for an $89.76 payment to the Davidson County Clerk’s Office.

But it’s clear that, in the years since my long-ago encounter with a zealous officer, tag enforcement has become less of a priority for Metro’s finest. To a certain extent, that’s understandable. Cop time is better spent on other concerns – guns stolen from cars alone could certainly keep them busy – than on nailing tag scofflaws.

But there’s the beauty of the tag readers: They can automatically capture images of the deadbeat vehicles, which could then set in motion a letter demanding payment of a fine or, at the least, renewal of the registration.

I know firsthand how that sort of process works, having twice received such letters in my previous home in New York. I’d been recorded as passing a red light ever-so-slightly too late. Same light both times. Oops.

The problem is that isn’t possible in Nashville under current law. The Metro ordinance authorizing use of the LPR system specifically prohibits their use for some purposes, including “the determination of whether a vehicle’s license plate is expired.”

I wondered why, so I contacted Jeff Syracuse, the Council member who sponsored the bill to extend the LPR use beyond the initial six-month pilot program.

“I think it’s safe to say the caveats were placed into the ordinance to begin with a focused and limited use since it’s a new application of this technology,” he told me by email. Other prohibitions include “general surveillance of any individual” and “the identification of a vehicle for the purposes of repossession.”

And not surprisingly, given concerns about privacy, “An LPR system authorized under this section shall not be capable of facial recognition.”

All may not be lost, though. Syracuse, a term-limited member for District 15 who is running for an at-large seat, offered me some hope for the future.

“Just as we spent a couple of years putting together the existing ordinance, I think the next Council will need to always carefully consider any expansion of their use,” he said. “Certainly revenue generation would be a factor to consider. I would be open to the conversation and just as we did with this current ordinance, I would want to ensure all voices are brought to the table to consider the ramifications, benefits, concerns, etc.”

Consider this is my voice at the table, filed in advance.

Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.