Why South Jersey Cops Are Touching Your Car

Why did he do that? Did you see what happened?

The real reason police are putting their hands on your car

It happens not only in South Jersey but everywhere.

A police officer makes a traffic stop, gets out of his car and walks to yours.

Before he gets to your car's window, he touches the back of your car.

What the heck did he do that for?

There are a couple of possible reasons why he touched your car.

Did the officer touch your taillight?

If the officer touched your taillight, there's a good reason for that. He could have been trained to do that!

According to UltraBrightLitz, it's an old habit. Before the days of cameras in police cars, traffic stops were even more dangerous than they are today. Officers touch the taillight to leave a fingerprint on the car. "Taking this action means that there is evidence to follow if the precinct is investigating someone after a traffic stop goes awry and an officer is harmed or goes missing."

Today, even though the officer's car probably has a camera he might still be doing it out of habit - or it brings him comfort or security.

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Did the officer touch your trunk?

If the officer touched your trunk, it may be for a very different reason than for touching a taillight.

According to WikiHow.com, the officer may touch your trunk to simply make sure it's closed. If it's open, someone could pop out of it and surprise him as he's making the traffic stop.

Our fine officers do know what they're doing!