Cops Imitating Plants Catch 74 Drivers on Their Phones in Six Hours

If you’re driving through suburban New Jersey and see shrubbery holding a pair of binoculars, you’re not hallucinating. You’re just doing what you should be doing: paying attention to the road.

In an effort to catch more drivers illegally using their phones, police in the central New Jersey town of Dunellen got creative. One officer dressed up in a sniper-style ghillie suit and stood next to an extra-leafy tree on one of the town’s main streets, keeping an eye out for drivers who were holding their phones in violation of a statewide ban. According to a Facebook post from the Dunellen Borough Police Department, this unorthodox method led to 74 citations for distracted driving in six hours.

As if getting busted by a cop dressed as a plant isn’t embarrassing enough, the post also includes a photo of a guy with a walkie-talkie wearing a “Not a Cop” t-shirt. You’d have to really not be paying attention to fall for that one.

Given that the crime is distracted driving, it’s unclear if these theatrics are really necessary. If a driver is paying attention to their phone and not the road, they probably won’t notice an undisguised police officer or marked patrol car either. Nor will they notice other things around them—which is the problem.

Modern cars offer many forms of distraction, from driver-assist systems that tempt drivers to become less vigilant, to increasingly confusing dashboard controls. But the reflexive need to look at a phone when that notification chime dings exists even when driving the most low-tech vehicles. And it’s been linked to higher rates of rear-end collisions and speeding in separate Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studies.

In its 2022 study on rear-end collisions, the IIHS cited lack of enforcement of California’s anti-phone law—due to vague wording of the law itself—as a reason for elevated rates of collisions in that state compared to its neighbors. Having a law on the books often isn’t enough of a deterrent, which is why New Jersey cops are cosplaying as foliage. It’s probably easier to just put the phone down than to spend a drive eyeing every bush with suspicion.