320.025  Registration certificate and license plate issued under fictitious name; application.--

(1)  A confidential registration certificate and registration license plate shall be issued under a fictitious name only for a motor vehicle owned or operated by a law enforcement agency of state, county, municipal, or federal government, the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, or any state public defender's office. The requesting agency shall file a written application with the department on forms furnished by the department, which includes a statement that the license plate will be used for the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, or law enforcement or any state public defender's office activities requiring concealment of publicly leased or owned motor vehicles and a statement of the position classifications of the individuals who are authorized to use the license plate. The department may modify its records to reflect the fictitious identity of the owner or lessee until such time as the license plate and registration certificate are surrendered to it.

(2)  Except as provided in subsection (1), any motor vehicle owned or exclusively operated by the state or any county, municipality, or other governmental entity must at all times display a license plate of the type prescribed in s. 320.0655.

(3)  This section constitutes an exception to other statutes relating to falsification of public records, false swearing, and similar matters. All records relating to the registration application of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a law enforcement agency, or any state public defender's office, and records necessary to carry out the intended purpose of this section, are exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1), and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution as long as the information is retained by the department. This section does not prohibit other personations, fabrications, or creations of false identifications by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, or law enforcement or public defender's officers in the official performance of covert operations.