Episode2 - Can't they trace the owner of the car using the plate number?

Ok, so they've already figured it out that Riley wasn't driving the car the night Stevie was shot. They also learned from Tia that Bruno stole the car. So if Bruno didn't know owned the car, why didn't they just look up who the car was registered to? The car had a plate number, right? Can't they use that to trace the real owner? I've seen a lot of cop shows and cops do it all the time. I thought this was a good show but I find it stupid I stopped watching after episode 2. I wish it has a valid explanation because it really didn't make sense to me.