This happened to me in California.

A cop pulled me over for speeding. I was actually speeding. Somehow my radar detector didn't catch it in time (I think he just turned the gun on when I passed, even though it was a semi-busy freeway).

I was sure he was writing me a ticket, and then he asked if my driving record was clean. It is, and I told him so. He then said that he is offering to write me a $20 "fix it" ticket for essentially a bogus violation (he didn't use those words, but that's what he meant), and I said yes. He wrote me a violation for a LOL license plate thing (which honestly doesn't look like an actual violation), and instead of an expensive speeding ticket which will also end up on my record, I pay a $20 fee and show up to a vehicle inspection (at my leisure) and the thing completely goes away.

So obviously this was a big favor he did for me.

But the weird thing is that he needed to write SOME ticket, rather than just letting me off. Obviously must have been a quota thing, so he satisfied the quota and cost me the minimum.

I'm not going to try to contest the bogus fix it ticket. I don't want to fuck him over for doing me the favor here.

Has anyone had something like this before?