Explained: Why cops touch the trunk of your car during a traffic stop

Have you ever noticed that police officers, especially in American movies, often touch the trunk of cars they've pulled over before approaching the driver? If you're like us, you’ve probably wondered why they always do that!

The work of the police around the world is loaded with details that, on many occasions, ordinary mortals neither understand nor pay attention to.

Many of the "odd" things they do routinely make sense and have a logical explanation, always applied to hunting down the bad guys.

One of them, in which many people do not notice, is the gesture of touching the back of a car with the right hand, when stopped on the road.

Photo: Youtube - Did You Know?

There are many Hollywood movies in which this detail is not overlooked and is applied in scenes involving police pulling people over.

Photo: Unsplash - Kenny Eliason

But it can be said that it is a practice that they have acquired by copying the reality of real agents.

Photo: Pexels - Erick McLean

In fact, all you have to do is search on social networks to verify it, since there are many videos with this gesture that have already gone viral.

The question that everyone asks when they see it is, what are they trying to do by touching the back of the car? Nothing is random.

Everything is due to a protocol that many countries apply, including the United States, especially for agents who patrol alone.

Photo: Unsplash - Jonathan Cooper

When a policeman stops a car on the highway, the officer approaches the trunk of the stopped car, removes his gloves if he is wearing them, and touches the trunk with his fingers.

To begin with, this serves to verify that the trunk is closed and there is no one hiding who could come out and attack the police officer.

Photo: Unsplash - Erik McLean

But this gesture goes much further than that and is crucial for the safety of the agent, as well as for a future prosecution of the driver of the car, in the event of a runaway.

Photo: Pexels - Kindel Media

By making this gesture, the policeman is leaving his or her fingerprints marked on the body of the car.

Photo: Pexels - Kindel Media

Thus, in the event of an attack, flight or any unforeseen event, the agent could be linked to the crime, even if he is unable to make a statement.

Obviously, officers are taught to always approach the car from the side so that the agent is not run over by the driver, reversing.

If there is no problem and the officer manages to reach the driver's area without any problem, it is also common for them to put their hand on the roof, just above the window, as it is another reference area for locating fingerprints.

It seems highly unlikely that, in the event of an escape, a criminal would stop at a car wash to remove the agent's fingerprints, and that's assuming they know about this gesture.