Eagle-eyed members of the Canberra public might have been forgiven for believing some important police paperwork was overlooked.
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However, that's not the case. The police didn't forget to register four of its patrol vehicles; it has simply taken two of the three custom number plates previously assigned to its specialist Road Safety Operations (RSOT) team out of service.
Four police vehicles run through the online Access Canberra registration check system came back as unregistered.
However, three of the plates are now out of use and the fourth returned that result due to a "system error".
"All ACT Policing vehicles being driven on Canberra's roads are currently registered," police said in a statement.
"ACT Policing has an exemption for vehicle registration under road transport laws.
"However, ACT Policing believes it is important to model good behaviour on our roads for the safety of everyone and ensures all of its vehicles are registered."
In the ACT, police registrations are generally protected because there are covert and surveillance teams in operation.
Under article 18(1) of the ACT Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Act 1999, it is a $675 fine for a driver to use an unregistered vehicle.
As recently as June 9, a traffic blitz by ACT Policing detected 60 unregistered vehicles in Canberra. The Road Safety Operations team cars have automated number plate recognition, which constantly scans the traffic for unregistered vehicles.
From June 2019 to May 2020 ACT Policing issued 678 TINs to drivers using an unregistered or suspended vehicle, and issued 482 cautions.