Advertisement A warning to all Iowa drivers to check your license plate Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Iowa Supreme Court says police officers can legally stop any vehicle that has a frame covering the county name on its license plate.Watch video of this storyThe court ruled 5-2 on Friday that obscuring the county violates a law that requires motorists to "permit full view of all numerals and letters" on the plate.We found a number of cars in the KCCI parking lot that had the problem Friday morning."Something's wrong with my van? The license plate frame? It was a gift from one of my nephews for Christmas because I'm a Bears fan," ask KCCI staffer Brandi Vick, walking to the parking lot with Eric Hanson. "I'll probably go home and take it off. I never thought about it.""Well, I think it covers up the county a little bit," said KCCI staffer Peter Zemansky. "I think you could tell what it is if you knew what you were looking for, but it's kind of hard to read. I don't want to run the risk of getting pulled over."Here's the rule you need to follow…"Anything that is imprinted on a license plate needs to be visible to all law enforcement. So basically that means the numbers, the letters and the county that is displayed on that plate," said State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Scott Bright.The court's ruling backs undercover Davenport officers who used the issue to justify stopping a man who was under surveillance for suspected drug dealing.Dissenting Justice Brent Appel said the ruling is a warning to thousands of motorists who have frames promoting sports teams and auto dealers.He said they need to check whether the frame covers the county name because police now "may stop the vehicle anywhere and at any time" without any sign of other criminal wrongdoing.The dissenting part of the ruling reads, "The take-away point for Iowa citizens is that they better go out to the garage and check their license plate frames if they want to avoid being pulled over by law enforcement on the open road. For the thousands of Iowans who have a frame that promotes a sports team, or an auto dealer, or have a nice (or not so nice) slogan, beware! If the license plate frame happens to obscure the county name on the plate, the State will take the position that police may stop the vehicleanywhere and at any time, whether one is dropping the kids off at school, returning home from the football game, or on the way to work, without any further sign of criminal wrongdoing."Having the county name showing could help witnesses to a crash or problem help police ID a vehicle, which is another reason it needs to be completely showing."They might not remember the letters or the numbers, but if they see a county and get a description of the car, that definitely could help us out trying to find that person," said Bright.You can read the entire ruling online here.Look for more on this story coming up on KCCI-TV, KCCI.com and our mobile website m.kcci.com and apps.