When a driver is stopped at a police control, it is common to feel certain nerves, even though we know that we have not broken any traffic regulations. The truth is that this moment can remain somewhat anecdotal for those behind the wheel, end up with a light penalty or end up with an immobilized vehicle and a visit to police stations.
But for the agents of the authority, it also entails certain dangers that threaten their security. After all, they never know what the person driving is like or how they will react to their requests. Hence, in certain countries like the United States, curious customs are adopted as a protocol to safeguard the police.
Surely you have seen this gesture in some action movie: the patrol car or the officer on foot order a driver to stop and, when they approach the vehicle, they touch the rear of it. Beyond fiction, the United States police also practice this ritual in real life. And, for some time now, social networks have echoed this modus operandi, increasing curiosity about the reasons behind it.
It is not a casual gesture or a generalized mania of the police force, nor do they do it to find a point of support, but rather it corresponds to an established security protocol and established for not insignificant reasons. First of all, this way they can check that the trunk is correctly closed. With this they rule out that someone is inside and could pounce on the agent.
In addition, by placing the palm of your hand on the bodywork, they leave their fingerprints impregnated. So they could relate and identify that car if any harm happened to the cop. For this same reason, it is common for the agent to also lean on the roof of the vehicle while they talk to the driver, also leaving his footprints there.
Since this is a generalized protocol, they have to touch those specific parts of the car and not just any random spot. Thus, if it were necessary to investigate the car, they know where to look for the fingerprints in question.
Touching the bodywork is not the only precaution that police officers take into account when approaching a car during a control. They also have a stipulated approach to him from the side, never from in front or from behind. With this rule, they avoid being run over –whether intentionally or due to accidental negligence as a result of nerves–, in the event that the car accelerates or reverses.
