Why Do Massachusetts Police Officers Touch Your Car During A Traffic Stop?

I'm not going to lie, there's been times where I've been busted by the law in the Baystate. Nothing serious though obviously. Just simple traffic stops for cruising a little too quick or forgetting that my inspection sticker has expired. Look, I'm not trying to jinx myself but I am safe to say I have never received any citations that I've had to pay. So, big shout-out to my car insurance company GEICO for allowing to be on their "good drivers" discount policy. 😂 During a traffic stop in Massachusetts, have you noticed as the officer is walking up to your window they have a habit of tapping the back of your vehicle with their hand?

Why do police officers touch the back of your car?

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Before we get straight to the answer, there was a time where dashcams didn't exist particular in patrol cars. So if a driver fled from a traffic stop, it was a lot more challenging to gather evidence of that fleeing vehicle unless the officer had the license plate information down right then and there.

So it only made the sense that an officer would touch the rear of a vehicle to basically "mark his territory" which would prove in a court of law by using an officer's fingerprint evidence that the vehicle was involved in a crime scene.

Do officers still touch your vehicle though?

According to the lawdictionary.org, some police departments still instruct their officers to leave some form of fingerprint evidence on the car, but it does not have to be a tail light. If you get pulled over and the officer still touches your tail light, it’s likely out of habit rather than necessity.