As for the thefts from rental vehicles, do the license plates identify them as rental cars? The reason I ask is because in September I rented a car and the tag started with the letter "R". If that means it's a rental car then that makes it easier for the criminal element to figure out which vehicles may have cash and/or items worth stealing. Here in Florida about 15-20 years ago we had a similar problem of tourists being robbed at gunpoint and/or their cars broken into. Once it was realized that the rental fleets had tags that started with the letter "Z" they changed it to a random assignment of tag numbers.

Imagine the tourist that just landed at the Miami airport and has just picked up the rental car. You are headed to your accommodations and as you are leaving you realize the roads out of the airport aren't in the best of neighborhoods. You stop at a red light behind a car and suddenly there's a person with a gun robbing you of your cash and credit cards. Another scenario is you leave the airport and head to a restaurant with your luggage in the car. You pull in to a spot and take your family in for a meal. When you come out the windows are broken out and your stuff is gone.

This was a common scenario 15-20 years ago until the state changed the issuing of tags to rental cars.

If SXM still identifies the rental fleet on their plates, an easy way to cut down on that statistic, with really no additional cost. is to issue rental car tags the same way as any other tag.