Me & The LAPD

Recently, I purchased a vehicle. I found out quickly that things are very different in the state of California. There is no need to get an inspection sticker and ten percent of the vehicles on the road do not have license plates. Instead, these vehicles have the dealer plates. (Not the official Massachusetts’ dealer plates pictured below.

     I am talking about plastic dealer plates that are definitely unofficial, like the one in the picture.

     The cars are registered, but there is only a temporary registration which is taped to the windshield. If this seems like an ineffective way to operate car sales, that’s because it is. Apparently, the police officers did not get the memo about these temporary plates. In my less than two weeks, I have been pulled over twice. The first time was in the city of Pasadena. (I went there several times, but I have yet to see the Rose Bowl!)

The officer wasted 30 minutes of my life. He pulled me over in the middle of a shopping plaza and I was made to look like a common criminal. I provided all of the necessary paperwork and he still barely bought my story. Not only was this guy unreasonable, but he almost issued me a citation for not converting my Massachusetts’ License to a California one. (Relax pal, I just moved here!)

The second time I was pulled over happened yesterday. We were driving back from LAX and two cop cars pulled us over. The officers shielded themselves behind their opened car doors and mapped out their strategy for approaching the vehicle. (I watched them in complete amazement!)

Finally, one officer gained the courage to walk towards the passenger side (Obviously, we are members of a notorious nationwide street gang and we were recently relocated to Los Angeles from Boston, because there aren’t enough thorough thugs in LA County!)

After questioning us, with hands on their weapons, the officers felt comfortable enough to believe that we didn’t steal the car. They were almost certain that we weren’t packing any heat under the seats. (I say almost certain because @EFidalgo12 was asked to keep his hands visible while attempting to remove his seat belt. The officer almost drew his weapon!)

The Celtics T-shirt I was wearing definitely didn’t help our cause. (As the officer noted, before he was comforted by the fib that we were actually from Boston, England!) This incident happened at a major intersection during rush hour. I was asked to exit the vehicle so the officers could teach a rookie, how to properly conduct a traffic stop. Thankfully, we were not in any hurry, so I had no problem playing along and answering the litany of questions. (No, I do not have any tattoos and I am not affiliated with any gang!)

Overall, the officers were pretty cool about the entire incident and they apologized for inconveniencing us. I walked away from the traffic stop with a business card, which I plan to make use of during my next traffic stop, which I’m sure will be fairly soon.

I guess today was a good day!

@PeteTeix617