Why do police touch your car. Police officers touch your car upon approaching it in order to be under some control should you have someone in your trunk, not to leave fingerprints on it unless there’s been some major policy change I don’t know about.
This occurs when a police officer gets out of his or her vehicle and approaches yours, but rather than heading straight to your window, the policeman will touch your tail light first.
If the police officer believes they are in a dangerous situation as they pull you over, they may touch the backend of your vehicle on the way to your window to make sure the trunk is latched. If a police officer does check that your trunk is shut, they will typically have their partner with them.
So that was obviously something that has been asked. A lot on YouTube probably a lot on Google. So this is it we're gonna put this to rest today right here, right now the article that popped up.
Why Officers Touch The Back Of Your Car
When I did that search was from Brightside and it was called why do police touch the tail light. It's extremely important and I'm gonna tell you right now. I'm gonna title this article why police don't touch the tail light. it's extremely insignificant.
I have never been taught to touch the taillight on a traffic stop. I have never touched on purpose the taillight of any vehicle on a traffic stop. I was not trained in the Academy to touch the taillight on a traffic stop. I don't know a single officer that was ever taught to touch the taillight of a vehicle on a traffic stop. And so I'm not sure where all the information comes from what officers.
They did I even talked to some old school retired cops about this. And all of them unequivocally have told me they were never taught to do that even if some of them did in the past. So I'm going to break down the three reasons brightside article here.
Why cops do this and I'm going to explain to you why none of them are true. Not even partially true untrue quick note. This is just simply a critique of the content as I consumed it.
1. The first reason
They give is quote frighten the driver. Yeah that sounds like a really good idea for a cop to do is just try to brighten the driver. Now if the purpose of this was to frighten the driver listen. There are a lot of easier ways to frighten a driver as a cop than touching their stupid taillight driver's license registration.
What are you do and touching the taillight to make a noise to startle? Someone inside? We're not smacking the taillight. They said touch the taillight how loud is touching a taillight. You're not smacking it. You're not picking the car up and down. You're not hooking the car anyway and why would I want to scare someone in the car.
If they were holding on to something you legal-like a weapon that. They wanted to hurt me with or had bad intent. Why do I want to scare the driver into doing that. That's literally self-contradictory. We'll see that these three reasons as we see them.
In the article are actually inherently self contradictory for the whole purpose of trying to do this. If an officer wants to be safe they're not going to be trying to purposefully scare anyone in the vehicle.
2. The second reason they give is to leave a fingerprint on the vehicle on that taillight.
They're gonna leave a print the taillight tap serves as evidence back before the time of body cameras and dashboard cameras. The police would sometimes have to face dangerous drivers alone in quiet areas. The problem with this is that not only is that not true.
It real life isn't like CSI guys. You just don't go pick up fingerprints off of things as easy as everyone would like to think that it is especially on a car. That's going to have multiple people touching the car over a long period of time unknown that in. And of itself isn't all that helpful again.
I talked to people who are more old-school cops pre camera days like pre body cam pre dashcam and maybe there was a group of people at some point. Maybe in the past of cop legend people used to touch the taillight.
But nobody alive that I've talked to if you're a cop. That was trained to do it that way please by all means drop it in the comments. And explain who and where and why you were taught that I was not taught that at all.
I literally laughed at the reason they gave. Because they say it is a ritual taillight tap serves as a ritual amongst police officers. A ritual is like satan is sacrificing somebody. A ritual is like a fraternity spanking a new member.
I don't know it's a monk chanting. I don't know what's going on in rituals. But touching a taillight as a police officer is not a ritual the article literally says it's like a good luck charm. It used to be something that kept them safe.
So now it's just a tradition a ritual. Like a good luck charm to make sure. They're being safer. They're gonna be safe on this traffic stop from someone. That may have ill intent to do them harm as police officer.
It's literally laughable like I said this is self-contradictory. If I'm trying to startle the driver. I'm not being safe. I'm not being tactically sound. if I'm doing something. That's a tradition or a ritual that's going to intentionally startle them. This makes no sense again not a tradition.
There's a lot of traditions being safe is one of them telling an officer. Hey stay safe telling one another. Stay safe be safe. Hey got your six you know there are traditional phrases or concepts even shirt that I'm wearing one asterisk.
We have one asked to risk. So you better take care of it the idea of being safe and tactically sound is in some sense ritualistic. I guess in the law-enforcement community because we want to encourage each other to have safe practices and to be smart.
When we're doing this because in the event that someone does want to do is harm. We want to be ready for that. And we want to be able to respond appropriately. But touching a tail light is not one of those things at all never has been is not. And I really hope never will be so that's my quick take on this.
Trooper Steve and Hoelscher Answers Viewer Questions
“Touching the rear of the vehicle puts the officer’s fingerprints on that car, showing that he or she was there with it,” Trooper Steve said.
“Leaving a thumbprint on the brake light is an old-school way to tag a car with a fingerprint, so it can be identified conclusively as the vehicle involved in a stop should the officer become incapacitated,” explains Hoelscher.
It's actually more than I ever would have thought. I needed to say on this topic. But it is that's. It's put to rest. It's done. Whatever it was. It isn't now and it never will be if it ever was. Okay good day.