Solving the hit and run with a license plate description is 50% at best in most large cities. Civilly, you can always go after the registered owner to recoup your damages. Criminally, the driver of the hit and run car has to be identified in order for him/her to be held accountable. Since some owners change their cars like they change their undergarments (and most of them don’t do the proper paperwork with the Department of Motor Vehicles), this is a leading cause of unsolved hit and run crimes. Example: “I sold the car, but to a friend and then he sold it to another guy he met online from another city. I didn’t know that I had to do paperwork on the car and then turn it in to the DMV.” You wouldn’t believe how often this happens. This makes it difficult for law enforcement and the insurance companies to track down the new owner.
Here are some ways that can assist you and the responding officers in solving the hit and run crime when you do not have a license plate description.
∑ Stay at the location. Suspects often return to the scene to see what is going on. They may not approach you, but they could be injured, or appear to be scared. Also, family members might come by as well in a different car. Get their license plate numbers.
∑ Try to get the news media involved in reporting the crime. The news media outlets can be a great help in locating a hit and run driver. Sometimes a neighbor will call the police after seeing a newscast and say that something just wasn’t right the way a car was parked, or it matches the vehicle description given by the media. They can tie the crime to what they are seeing or reading. Obviously the greater the damage and injury, the more press coverage you will get.
∑ The next day, and the following weeks thereafter, go back to the area and wait. They might just drive by in the same car, around the same time as before. We are all creatures of habit. We usually go the same way to our destinations every time. After committing the crime, they may alter course for a while, but eventually they will be back.
∑ Go to body shops to search for cars with similar damage. Ask you local body shop worker if they have heard or seen anything about your accident.
∑ Ask questions of persons around the area where the collision occurred. Some people don’t want to talk to the police, but will speak with you to help out. They may not give their name; this is all right so long as they provide good information that will lead to the suspect’s car.
∑ Ask the police a few weeks after the crime if any other reports came in that matches the description of your suspect’s car. Suspects often report the car stolen, or say that they were carjacked, or my favorite… they were the victim of a hit and run. This will lead you to the suspect in your case.
Sometimes even a partial license plate number is not good enough when you are talking about millions of cars. Police can do what California detectives call a “batch search.” This is using the DMV to search a specific or broad type of car using only several numbers and letters that you remember. This may lead to several hundred or even thousands of cars that match the description. As you can see these numbers for an already busy detective can be haunting. Batch searches are not done often due to the enormous amounts of hits that are received. If it is a unique car or a unique personalized license plate, this narrows the search down a great amount.
Most insurance companies will make you pay the deductible unless there is a license plate description. A correctly documented license plate will assist you, not only with your insurance company, but also with a successful criminal and civil prosecution. The task becomes very difficult without the license plate number, but if you don’t get it, trying one or more of the above bullet points may lead to your “Perp.”
