There is no situation that can not be made worse by injecting the police into it.
Especially not if you have a dog with you.
I spent some time in police work before becoming a full time broadcaster. There were guys in the departments I worked at that were great guys who you’d trust with anything including your life, and then there were (a very few, but some in each department) who were absolute jackasses. Their gun was their d**k and they made damn sure that everyone they ran into knew how fearsome they were.
My personal programming is that all cops are your friends and are there to help and protect you. But over the years, I have run into enough that weren’t that I am very guarded and reserved until i have had a chance to figure them out.
I was pulled over recently for going WAAAAY too fast in my sports car. The trooper was breathing fire when he walked up, yelling “As you might imagine, I am NOT happy this morning”, to which my internal reaction was, “why the hell are you angry? How exactly were you harmed, pal?” but after he got his initial huff out of the way, he became conversational, pleasant, and we conducted the transaction we needed to conduct. (For what it’s worth, the judge was the same way handing me a very large fine).
He was doing his job, and I respected that. The initial anger was completely inappropriate and unneeded but he quickly calmed down.
Whenever I am pulled over for whatever reason, no matter when or where, I always have the windows down, the dome light on, my hands on the steering wheel and my license in my hand on the steering wheel.
When I’m in the roller skate, my wallet is in the trunk, as it was on the day described above. I told him that my license was in the trunk and asked him how he wanted me to proceed. Going into the trunk is a HUGE red flag for a cop on a traffic stop, so it’s important to be very calm and professional and describe everything you are doing, and ask permission to do everything. “May I open the trunk?” “My wallet is in that green briefbag. May I open it? It’s a tan colored wallet in the first zippered pocket.” “I am going to open my wallet to get my license now.” Be even more professional than he is and it’s unlikely you’ll have any problems.
What I have found is easiest is to hand the license and CCW permit to him at the same time (our are separate cards) and that way there’s no need to worry about what euphemism you’re going to use for “loaded gun”. The next question is usually “are you carrying now” Followed by “where is it?”. “On my right hip. How would you like me to proceed?”
Never once have I had any hassle while carrying.