Officer Craig Sroka works in Coventry, Rhode Island. He’s served in the police force for 22 years. A while back he started answering questions posed by his TikTok followers in comments. Since then, he’s earned 302,000 followers and more than six million likes. This week, he explained why drivers have to provide a physical copy of their registration. After all, every cruiser has a computer that gives them this information when they run license plates.

Sroka explains that there are several reasons drivers have to show police officers their registration:

• They might not be able to see out-of-state vehicle registrations
• Department-issued computers could have issues
• The registry might be down
• Outdated information on their end

If a police officer pulls over an out-of-state car, they might not have an easy way of looking up the vehicle registration on their end. Instead, they ask the driver to provide proof of valid registration.

Police officers use department-issued computers, usually laptops. They sit inside the cruiser in a special laptop holder. This way, the police officer can remain comfortably seated in the captain’s chair while looking at key information or performing their job duties. Sometimes the computer needs to be updated. “That can take hours,” Sroka explains. Other times, the internet connection gets disrupted.

When the registry itself is down, even if the cruiser computer works fine and has a working internet connection, nothing comes back to the police officer to confirm the car is properly registered.

Finally, the officer says that occasionally he comes across drivers with a correct, current registration on hand. On his computer, though, the data could show an expired status. If the motorist can show a valid vehicle registration, “Then I’m not gonna give you a ticket.”

“That’s why you still need that physical form,” Sroka says. He gives followers a final quick tip: “Just put it in your glove box. Easy peasy mac n’ cheesy.”