Last Night’s Police Interaction

I had a little police interaction last night that I’d like to share. However, I need to start with a little backstory before getting into the events of last night.

I am originally from Texas, and, despite not having lived there since my childhood, I still consider myself a Texan. I’m also a fan of the University of Texas Longhorns and have a Longhorn decal on the back of my car.

This is important because I live in Oklahoma.

There is a huge rivalry between the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma. Like, a crazy huge, sometimes even dangerous, rivalry.

So I was driving home last night when I see those red and blue lights flashing behind me. I carefully pull over to a safe location, turn on the lights in my car, cut the engine and put my hands on the wheel.

The police officer comes up to my window, and we greet each other when she says, “I pulled you over this evening because of the Texas decal on the back of your car.”

I had to have looked like a deer in the headlights! I had absolutely no idea how to respond. Seriously, what do you say to a police officer when they say something like that?

Finally, after at least 5 to 10 seconds of silence, she puts me out of my misery. She says, “I’m just joking.”

I released the breath I didn’t even know I was holding and laughed while also telling her that wasn’t funny (though it really, really was)! She told me she’d let it go because it wasn’t football season.

Through all of this, she is completely straight-faced and deadpan. Until I told her, I always drive more carefully during football season because of that decal. That finally made her laugh.

She let me know my tag was out of date, gave me a warning, then let me go. I wish I got her name, though, because I really, really like her! One of my favorite police interactions ever!