Guadalajara Metropolitan Area Police

I have been having problems with the transito due to a lost/stolen front California license plate. 50 peso fine. My solution was to make a copy of my rear plate and enclose it in a plastic frame placed on the front bumper. No problems for the last 6 months until today. Leaving the parking lot at Walmart in Tonala, Jalisco I was waved over by an officer(transito). I was accompanied by my step-daughter who was holding her baby on her lap. The officer lectured her about the dangers as I do much of the time. After the lecture the officer asked for my car documents and went to look at the front plate. He then asked for my drivers license and proceeded to tell me that the law prohibited non-original plates and that the penalty for false documents was up to 6 years in prison. He had a hand held device that brought up the law for me to read. He told me that he could not give me a ticket as this was a violation of a law different than traffic, but he would hold me until the regular police arrived and i would be taken downtown. My step-daughter talked to him for awhile and then she called her husband who was working near-by and when he arrived it was determined that the officer would let me go for a mordida. I had 800 pesos in my wallet which he said was too little. He said others have given 5000 pesos. After more discusion he said he would take 3500 pesos. He let me go to the bank in my son-in-law´s car to get the money. Have a nice day was his reply when he left. I am now going to go with the front mexican flag plate and pay the 50 peso fine if ticketed. I do not ever plan to take my 1996 Dodge Neon back to the states for new plates. I will try to legalize the car next year as I did my old pick-up some 6 years ago. Such is Life.