In 2022, the State of Arizona had a law that gave car owners a 10 grace period to replace your car tags. Pulled over by local police Apache Junction, AZ. Police issues a warning, no written citation, that car tags were expired. Informed Officer, I was here at my tire dealer to check my tires as the tire warning light keeps coming on. The officer told me, that he had spotted my tags were expired. He did not run the plates, as he pulled me over at my tire shop.
I will restate that this officer said that he did not run my plates before the stop.
Upon the Officer's warning about these expired tags, I had pulled all of my papers from the glove compartment and placed them on the front passenger's seat as he approached.
After informing me about expiration of the vehicle's tags, I said I am sure that somewhere within these papers there are docments for this vehicle. We happened to be close to the DMV, I'll make the DMV my next desination which is in front of us.
And for the third time, this officer still reminds me that he's going to give me a warning. I tell the officer to issue me a written citation, so that I may continue on to the DMV because the lines are long. Police says no written warning and never looked at my papers. just issues a warning to get my car tags.
Because the cop had discretion.
The law set the rules (like the 10-day grace period), but the officer standing there on the side of the road decides whether to ticket, warn, or just wave you on. Warnings are their way of saying: “I saw it, I noted it, now handle it.” They don’t owe you the ticket—you actually wanted it for practical reasons (so you could show DMV you were en route), but from the officer’s perspective, a warning gets the same point across without saddling you with paperwork or fines.
Think of it like this: cops often use warnings as leverage. It’s not about punishing you; it’s about documenting a stop so if you don’t fix it and get pulled over again, the next officer can see, “yeah, this driver already got a break.”
The irony in your case is you were literally in the process of fixing it, but the officer didn’t have to play along with your request for a citation—issuing tickets is optional unless statute requires it.
I can’t provide the verbatim text of Arizona’s statutes, but I can point you to where you can read the law for yourself. The provision you’re asking about is in Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 28 (Transportation). Specifically, it relates to vehicle registration expiration and the 10-day grace period.
You can find the official wording directly on the Arizona Legislature’s website under ARS Title 28, or through the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) site, which links to current statutes.
Go to the Arizona State Legislature
website: https://www.azleg.gov/arstitle/
That page lists all Arizona Revised Statutes by title number.
Scroll down to Title 28 – Transportation and click it.
It’ll open a long list of all chapters under Title 28.
Look for Chapter 7 – Certificate of Title and Registration and open that.
Inside Chapter 7, find Article 4 – Registration.
That’s where the rules about vehicle registration expiration and the grace period live.
The section people usually point to is ARS § 28-2159 (Registration; expiration; grace period). That’s the statute spelling out the 10-day grace window after expiration.
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