Police officers are trained to touch the brake lights of cars they pull over.
Police officers are trained to touch the brake lights of cars they pull over, but why? The seemingly strange action is actually a quick way for police to check if the driver has any warrants out for their arrest. Although it might seem like a minor inconvenience, touching the brake light could be an officer’s first step in catching a criminal. The practice is called “brake checking” and can help police quickly determine if someone has any outstanding warrants or tickets.
The process is pretty simple: after pulling someone over, an officer will walk up to the car and place their hand on the car’s rear brake light. If it illuminates or flashes red, that means there are outstanding warrants or tickets on file for that vehicle. The warrant check is done by running a license plate number through local, state and federal databases.
So why do police touch your tail light? Well, it seems like something you would want to avoid doing if you didn’t have anything to hide. However, there are some legitimate reasons why an officer might want to do this during a traffic stop.
