This article talks about both unreadable and fake plates. I think you're talking about unreadable plates.

In that case you remove your tape or other obstruction before the inspection and put it back right after.

The police in New York support this kind of obstruction when done by the right people. The person quoted in the article removed an obstruction from a license plate of a car parked on the street. The driver called the cops, who took the side of the person evading traffic law.

If the goal is to avoid getting tickets from automated processes, I'd imagine they put back on the real one for inspection, then swap it back when they get home.

> As I understand New York state requires car inspections every 12 months.

you could just make it readable prior to inspection then make it unreadable again.

Enforcement on car inspections is lax. You might receive additional citations or an increased fine for having an expired inspection, but a lot of New York drivers (who I assume are not unique) will simply ignore tickets or pretend that they never received them (which is easy when they frequently come in the form of a letter tucked under your wiper, rather than a digital record).

There are plenty of cars in my neighborhood that are patently unsafe by the city and state's standards, or are modified in ways that wouldn't pass inspection. Many of them belong to cops, who drive into my neighborhood to police it from outside of the city.

Aside: I thought there was some sort of requirement that NYPD officers must live inside the city?

Nope: most NYC civil servants are required to live in the city, but the police are allowed to live in the neighboring suburbs[1]. The majority live outside of the city[2], with most commuting in by car (and then parking on the sidewalks of the neighborhoods they ostensibly serve[3]).

[1]: https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/careers/police-officers/po-hir...

[2]: https://gothamist.com/news/majority-nypd-officers-dont-live-...

[3]: https://twitter.com/NYPD_Parking