New Jersey police officer disguises as shrub to catch distracted drivers

A Dunellen Borough police officer dressed as a shrub and used binoculars on North Washington Avenue to catch drivers using handheld phones, and the operation ended with 74 citations in six hours. The unusual setup unfolded in Dunellen, in Middlesex County, and the police department publicized it on social media.

The disguise put an officer in a busy pedestrian area where drivers passing through could be watched without the usual visibility of a marked patrol car. Police said the operation targeted motorists using handheld phones behind the wheel, a violation covered by New Jersey’s handheld cell phone law. Multiple outlets identified the officer as being dressed like a bush or shrub, a detail that turned the enforcement effort into a viral image as well as a traffic stop.

The count of 74 citations in a single six-hour span suggests the department was doing more than creating a memorable photo. It was making a point about how often distracted driving still appears in daily traffic and how quickly officers can intervene when they focus on handheld phone use. In a place like North Washington Avenue, where foot traffic and vehicle traffic overlap, distracted drivers also pose risks to people walking nearby.

The approach fits a broader pattern of distracted-driving crackdowns in New Jersey, where police departments use both visible patrols and less conventional tactics to warn motorists. The shrub disguise stood out because it blurred the line between enforcement and spectacle, but the underlying issue was ordinary and persistent: a driver looking down at a phone instead of the road. The operation’s social-media reach extended the warning far beyond the stretch of pavement where the citations were written.

The image may linger, but the enforcement message was blunt. New Jersey police can still issue citations for handheld phone use, and Dunellen’s six-hour operation showed how one department chose to make that risk impossible to ignore.