JPD chief says adjustments being made after sticker renewal drop

By Gary Scott on January 8, 2016 at 1:25pm

Not as many Illinois motorists are renewing their license plate stickers after the Secretary Of State’s Office announced it would cease mailing out reminders to do so.

According to the Associated Press, renewals dropped 19 percent last November compared to a year prior, and about 173,000 fewer stickers were renewed last month compared to December 2014.

“We realize that people are no longer getting notifications, some are just going to forget that they have to renew their license without a reminder. So, what our officers are doing, they’re actually stopping the ones that are expired, and advising them that they’re expired, and that the SOS is no longer sending out notifications, and advising them to renew their plates ,” says Jacksonville Police Chief Tony Grootens.

“The violator will be given a warning, and that warning will be entered into our CAD system, and they will be told to get the sticker renewed as soon as possible.”

Grootens says if the same driver is stopped a week or two later, they’ll probably be issued a citation.

Renewing your sticker late means a $20 fine in addition to the $101 renewal cost.

You can sign up to be emailed a reminder on the Secretary of State’s website.