There are some additional complications associated with serving in the US Police Force that are not so prominent in other parts of the world. It is for this reason that the local police are forced to do some "special actions". One of these is lightly touching the taillight on a car that has just been stopped.
Service in the American police is associated with an increased level of danger against the background of the legalization of firearms. It is for this reason that law enforcement officers have a number of special instructions, for example, in case the car stops. One of these strange requirements is to touch one of the taillights with the palm of a newly stopped car. All this is not at all some kind of "nice tradition", but a very specific statutory requirement. It appeared in those years when the police did not yet have video recorders, and there were no numerous surveillance cameras in cities and on highways.
The essence of this action is extremely simple - you need to leave your fingerprints on the car stopped on demand. It is not at all necessary to do this on the headlight; you can touch the body in another place. However, most police officers leave their prints on the headlights or on the trunk lid when the car stops.
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The prints, in turn, must be left for their colleagues, as well as for the court, in case something happens to the policeman. For example, he will be captured, wounded, or even killed. In such a simple way, with a high degree of probability, it will be possible to prove that a law enforcement officer stopped this particular car.
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Now this technique is removed from the charter of the American police as unnecessary. Despite this, the demand has already become a tradition, and police officers continue to leave their fingerprints on every car that has to be stopped.
Continuing the topic, read about why do American cops use shotguns and not automatic weapons and not only.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/231019/52169/