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Police Lights Turn Jitters Into Smiles In Miami Beach

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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Red and blue lights shining in your rear view mirror can give any driver the jitters but that wasn't the case Tuesday morning.

Miami Beach Police officers turned those jitters into smiles when drivers found out what they had for them.

Officers along with Miami Beach's Fraternal Order of Police stopped drivers and handed them $25 American Express gift cards to people following the rules of the road.

"It's so nice this has never happened to me before, beautiful gift and it's very nice," said Greta Milani who got pulled over for properly stopping at a stop sign.

"My legs are a little tingly. I thought I was going to get a ticket," said driver Christina Bustamante.

It's something that came just in time for the holidays.

Car after car, cops pulled over one confused driver after another. Officers said it's nice to spread  some holiday cheer.

"You're definitely not used to seeing a police officer wearing a Santa hat out here," said driver Manuel Valdes.

Some drivers at the intersection of 13th Street and Meridian Avenue got the pleasant surprise and then headed out to start their day a bit richer.

"Let's face it no one enjoys getting tickets," said Officer Manuel Valdes.  "When you get the reaction from these people where their smiles are like 'thank you' because it's something so unexpected, it's a good feeling to see that in their faces."

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