11:55pm and I'm on my way home from work. Behind me I see a cop car tailing me, so I stick to the posted 45 MPH speed limit and put on my best Good Citizen demeanor, thinking that there's absolutely no reason to pull me over...that's when I realized that my plates have expired. No sooner had that repulsive thought shot through my head did Mr. Protect & Serve light me up. "Damn," I whispered to myself as I put on my blinker and made my way to the right. I threw my car into park, shut off the engine, turned on my interior lights, lowered my window, and placed my hands on my steering wheel. Ten seconds later one of Hemet's finest was standing above me, shining his light in my face. Here's the conversation as it went down:

Me: "Hello, Officer."
Cop: "You know that your tags are expired?"
Me: "Yeah, by a couple of days."
Cop: "May I see your drivers licence?"
Me: "Sure, no problem" I had it at the ready and handed it to the officer
Cop: "You don't have anything on your license, do you?"
Me: "No, sir"
Cop: "Okay, just give me a minute."

The officer walked back to his car, and I could hear him converse with a disembodied voice echoing from his radio confirming that, yes indeed, I was not a "trouble maker". One minute later he's back:

Cop (handing me my license): "Thank you, sir. Here you go. Drive safe!"
Me (smiling): "Thank you, officer."

I guess this goes to show that if you get pulled over and you do your best to show the officer that you're no threat and you treat him/her with respect, they'll do the same for you. Don't BS the cop. Admit to your mistake and don't tip-toe around the truth. It also helps if you've been a law-abiding citizen your entire life who doesn't even have a speeding ticket on your record :)

And yes, I did renew my tags the next day. It's amazing how quickly the late fees stack up...