you guys are correct... There is NO WAY a cop can tell on-the-spot if your inspection sticker is authentic. They do all have identification numbers on them but there is no centralized database they could look into... You'd have to trace it back. Have you guys ever went through a used car lot or parking lot and looked at all the inspection stickers on cars? They are extremely inconsistent in quality. It's just a simple colored decal with a hand-cut peice of paper stuck to the middle with your info on it. Half the time the inspector cuts off the numbers on the edge, there are variations in font, size, and even location of the information depending on the place that inspected it. You can also tell wether or not it was inspected by a public or private station. The identification number will start with "CIF" for public and "PIF" for private. A private sticker also lacks the "Inspected by" at the top. Making an extremely real looking fake sticker isn't hard at all as long as you have a good decal and some photoshopping skills.... However, I cannot say I have ever done such a thing or condone anyone try to - just a casual observation by me, a law abiding citizen of NJ.
I plan on registering my car as a collector as soon as it gets running. I can easily go a year without driving 3,000 miles. Gotta figure out why my odometer doesn't work though first...