Texas Police Target Fraudulent Vehicle Inspection Stations Across State
The Texas Department of Public Safety has been taking action recently to combat fraudulent vehicle emissions inspections, underscoring a rising problem, reports KXAN News.
From Feb. 13, 2023, through this past Thursday, DPS has secured or served a total of 88 arrest warrants for “clean scanning”—a process in which a vehicle inspection provider fraudulently passes a vehicle for its emissions inspection.
KXAN has been investigating the issue for over a year now, and some in the auto repair industry believe such illegal activity is what has led to required safety inspections being done away with; and, consequently, hurting those conducting genuine inspections.
Thomas Eanes, general manager of Veteran Auto Repair in Wichita Falls, Texas, expressed this in a discussion with Ratchet+Wrench earlier this year.
“There will be some money that was lost to some of the shops, more specifically, the shops that actually performed it correctly (and) did it right; there was a failure, and then it goes back in and (they) retest it as a pass,” told Eanes.
These false emissions tests being performed prompted DPS to conduct surveillance on vehicle inspection stations across Texas over the past few months, focusing on businesses where illegal activity was believed to have been taking place.
DPS’ most recent operation this month in Houston led to 19 arrest warrants and five arrests.
While statewide safety inspections will not be required in Texas beginning next year, the 17 counties that will still require emissions testing will continue to be under scrutiny.
