By Alec Fernandes
It's an am-bush! Law enforcement in New Jersey recently put in place a peculiar protocol for catching drivers on their phones. One officer donned a full ghillie suit on July 29, transforming into a leafy shrub alongside a busy street in the town of Dunellen. Dozens of distracted drivers failed to notice the faux foliage before it was too late. By the end of the six-hour operation, 74 violators received citations for using their digital devices behind the wheel.
According to the department, prior crackdowns with police cars were ineffective, as drivers would quickly spot marked cruisers or uniformed officers and hide their phones. Going full camouflage proved to be the ultimate countermeasure. As state-of-the-art monitoring continues to reshape modern law enforcement, sometimes the most effective tool of the surveillance state isn't a high-tech security camera—it's an officer hiding in plain sight.
The next time you're tempted to check a text behind the wheel, take a second look at the landscaping: the bushes might be watching back.