Why are license plates important?

Answer 1

Many American states are now strictly enforcing laws that require vehicles to display two license plates (on the rear and front of the vehicle). One possible benefit of front license plates is to increase the effectiveness of red-light cameras, which only work if a vehicle can be linked back to its registered owner. Opponents of two license plates usually do not like front plates on certain sports cars and historic cars because of their visual obtrusiveness from the vehicle. They argue that they add cost to production, use resources (metal), create double the amount of waste and do not give police any extra tool in recovering stolen vehicles.

Added: At one time most (all?) states issued wo plates and over time they cut back to just one (displayed on the rear) usually for budgetary purposes (i.e.: cost). Therefore the ones that kept them it was mostly custom that dictated it.

Now, (as described above) it is possible we may see a resurgence in the issuance of two license plates to improve the abilities of newly introduced technologies to identify a particular vehicle.

Answer 2

For police officers, they're very important. When they pull a car over, they'll run that plate number through their computer before they get out of the car. The information they receive for doing that will tell them if that plate goes with that car, if the car is reported stolen, if the vehicle owner has an outstanding warrant, if they're a concealed carry permit holder, or any other pertinent information they may need to know before they approach that vehicle.