What’s the worst thing you can see in the rearview mirror? Police lights flashing as a cop tells you to pull over (that or an avalanche/tornado/mob of goblins chasing you). So for Michigan drivers who stopped for the long arm of the law realized they were getting a treat instead of a ticket from sneaky Santa police, Christmas came extra early.

As part of an effort called the Uplift Someone Christmas Initiative by a Christian-based television network called UPtv, police officers in Lowell, MI have been pulling drivers over for routine things, minor traffic violations that officers usually don’t bother to stop people for, reports WZZM.

Here’s how it works: While the cops are talking to drivers about whatever excuse they give for puulling them over, they chat’em up and ask what they want for Christmas. A UPtv team waits at a nearby Meijer with a radio and then runs to buy and wrap the right gift within 10 to 15 minutes.

Then the officer hands over a wrapped gift instead of a ticket, and we all get to see the reactions in the campaign’s video — delight, relief and yes, some people cried.

“Most of the contact the police officers have with the general public is on a traffic stop and you can find a lot out about that person in that 10 to 15 minute window, whether they’re having a good day, a bad day, or a horrible day,” Lowell’s police chief explains in the video. “And then we got this idea: what if we could change that person’s day in real time? What if we could change that person’s day right now?”

All in all, officers pulled the Secret Santa prank on about 50 drivers for the video, resulting in 30 presents getting handed out. The most expensive? A laptop and Xbox console.

And no one got a ticket, to boot.

VIDEO: Lowell police surprise drivers with Christmas presents [WZZM]

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