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| - It is unknown how many police academies formally teach this technique, or whether it is instead a strategy passed along as a training tip by more experienced officers. Police may also touch other areas of the vehicle's rear — not just the taillights.
According to internet lore, police officers are taught to touch the taillights of cars they have pulled over so their fingerprints are on the vehicle. This strategy allegedly helps link a responding officer to a location, scene or car in the event that something happens to them during traffic stops.
Snopes found examples of the claim as early as 2017, including the below Reddit post that received more than 19,000 upvotes before being archived.
The claim received renewed attention when it was shared to Facebook on July 15, 2024. A Google keyword search revealed iterations of it had been shared on multiple platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Reddit and the online forum Quora, as well as in online publications such as Mental Floss, The Mirror and the Daily Mail.
William Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, a coalition of police unions and associations across the U.S., told Snopes that yes, police officers will touch the taillights and other locations of the vehicle's rear to leave their fingerprints:
It does not have to be the taillights, but usually somewhere on the rear of the vehicle such as the lid of the trunk or that general area as they approach the vehicle from behind to prove that they were there. And to help identify the vehicle in case something goes wrong, meaning an assault or accident injuring the officer.
He said it is unknown how many academies formally teach this technique, or whether the tactic is informal knowledge "passed along as a training tip by more experienced officers."
"But it's definitely something that new officers learn," Johnson said. Therefore, we rated this claim as "True."
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. However, when there is probable cause a vehicle contains evidence of criminal activity, an officer may "lawfully search any area of the vehicle in which the evidence might be found."
Traffic stops are conducted for a variety of reasons, such as when a person violates traffic laws or during sobriety checkpoints. According to the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School, a routine traffic stop is also "justified if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the occupant is unlicensed or the vehicle is unregistered."
Snopes had previously looked into other claims related to the police, which can be found here.
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