Caught In Wisonsin with Michigan Dispensary weed

So me and my friends visited the upper peninsula for the weekend and came back through Wisconsin, and since we're idiots we drove back home through Wisconsin with all the goodies we got from the dispensary. Cop pulled us over for the tints on my friends car, and right off the bat he thought we were interstate drug traffickers. Luckily we barely had any, each of us just bought like $60 worth of stuff for us. And to "Be nice" and because we were cooperative he gave us a county ordinance violation, the total is $800. Apparently its not criminal and it is civil. He said it is not a misdemeanor but i have so many questions because he didn't give us any paper tickets just said we would receive our citations in the mail. So I have like no information. Also he had my friends put his airpods on the cruiser and he never got them back, i don't know if he stole them or what but my friend has to buy new airpods and pay $200. I guess my question is what are my ways of combatting this? Also if I decide to fight it is there a risk of making it worse? Like the charges become criminal if my appeal fails? Also, if I am stuck with this, how does a civil violation for marijuana possession affect me in the long run? I am worried about jobs and background checks seeing it for the rest of my life. It is just so stupid how are laws work in this country. Honestly, I don't know what I don't know, so any information you guys have that may be related would be helpful. Thanks