The Ultimate Body Language Book

stance causing them to drop their aggression.
If you don’t plan on fighting the ticket in court your best course of action is to vehemently admit your
mistakes, and do it repeatedly for effect. The side of the road is not the place to start an argument, that’s
what the courts are for, so save it for then. Right now your job is to make the officer feel bad for giving
a nice person a ticket so what you want to do is act as if you are an honest, well respected member of
the community. Even if you do plan to fight it, you still want to be forgotten so the officer doesn’t go
back to his cruiser to jot down notes and begin to mount his court case. If he can’t remember you in
court he won’t be able to defend his ticket.
When asked for information, provide it quickly and without hesitation. Avoid “humming” and “haaing”
and be as helpful and short as possible, he’s heard all the excuses already so don’t bother getting
emotional. The worst you can do is to appear as a threat to his safety by being shifty and moving
erratically. When asked for your driver’s license and registration be sure to tell him where they are
located and in what order you will give them to him. When reaching in an enclosed compartment like
the glove box be sure not to hold eye contact since most attackers look directly into their victims eyes
before they assault them. Statistics say that officers are very likely to be assaulted or even killed while
on routine traffic stops.
Once you’ve given all the correct body language signals watch for the moment where the officer finally
judges that you aren’t a threat. The officer’s body language will become more relaxed and loose and
you can begin to address them in a less rigid and formal manner. Cracking jokes is risky, at this point
though, since you may put them back into an authoritative position by appearing to belittling the
situation. If they seem bent on issuing a ticket though, you may have nothing to lose and easing up
might have them lower the fine even at the last moment. If you are persuasive enough and can
efficiently built rapport, you may be able to walk the thin line between presenting your case which can
be taken as an insult and setting off his dominance triggers.