Halton Regional Police up to their old tricks again

[2xtrms]

Halton Regional Police have been posing as beggars in Burlington this week to nab drivers using their cell phones. The hobo cops, who stand at the roadside holding cardboard signs, are part of a four-day blitz dubbed Project Disconnect. The blitz, which began Monday and ends Thursday, aims to catch motorist who are talking, e-mailing, texting or surfing the web on handheld devices. (David Ritchie / Special to the Toronto Sun)

Hobo cops may not be popular but they certainly were effective at nabbing distracted drivers in Burlington this week. Halton Regional Police say their four-day undercover blitz, dubbed Project Disconnect, has ended with hundreds of fines doled out to motorist for using their cell phones while they were behind the wheel. More than half of those tickets were handed out at one intersection by officers disguised as beggars holding tattered cardboard signs.

“It’s obviously still an issue within our community”, Sgt. Dave Cross said Friday, explaining for too many drivers continue to ignore the cell phone ban two and a half years after it was introduced in Ontario.

Project Disconnect, an operation conducted from Monday to Thursday by the Burlington District Response Unit, was a crackdown on those drivers who are still talking, texting, typing, dialing or e-mailing on cell phones or other handheld devices. The effort also involved a “mobile component” but it was the plainclothes officers at Guelph and Fairview St who grabbed the attention of the media this week. Undercover cops stood at the intersection holding signs bearing messages such as “If you are using your cell phone right now, you’re about to get a ticket”.

In total the blitz resulted in 362 tickets over four days, 301 for distracted driving, Cross said. 179 of those distracted driving fines were issued by the officers pretending to be panhandlers. By dressing as beggars, cops are able to get close enough to catch drivers in the act of using their phones. The hobo cop ploy has been sued by other forces in Ontario and across in other provinces across the country.

Halton Police took some heat this week for employing the tricky tactic. “I think most of the complaints were from the people who were caught talking on their phones while driving”, Cross said. “Those who were in compliance didn’t have any issues with it”.

[Soundwave_vr6]

BC cops were doing this months ago.



hope they catch a bunch of these people. some clown almost drifted into me on hwy 6 this weekend :|


Edit: holding yer cell in your hand on speaker is not hands free. fkn idiots

[Big Dac With Fries]

Are these the same guys that did the undercover taxi a few years back?

[JOHNS92JETTA]

Yup.

Toronto cops ride street cars and look for people talking on their cell phones. Distracted drivers are a real danger on the roads.

[2xtrms]

Yup, they also had that unmarked white volvo s70 T5

[Mr Ruckus]

FTP.

[SoNgMaN]

with the number of times I've had to avoid *******s on their phones good on them. keep up the good work!

[chuque]

good work! i hate douche nozzles who are on the phone while driving!

I cops...

[ekim vkm]

The amount of people I still see on their phones when I drive my work truck is just insane. You could put a uniformed officer at every intersection and they would still be able to ticket one person every red light.

I think this is a great idea. Tired of having to avoid other drivers that are distracted by their phone.

[Scotty_2.0]

The amount of people I still see on their phones when I drive my work truck is just insane. You could put a uniformed officer at every intersection and they would still be able to ticket one person every red light.

I think this is a great idea. Tired of having to avoid other drivers that are distracted by their phone.

x2

[veector]

This is a great idea, I dont know how many times a day I see people so obviously holding a phone up to their ear, drifting between two lanes and driving 20 under. They really need to crack down on this. I wont even get into the texting side of things, looking down at your lap for 20 seconds while driving on the qew

If I ever need to use my cell, I pull over. I can honestly say im a crappy driver if i try and do both.

[MKII Golfman]

If you can afford a cell phone, then you can afford to buy a hands free device, period. If you talk or text while driving you are stupid enough to deserve a ticket. IMO the fines should be raised for this stupidity.

[Ed52]

to the cops

Wow, I've never witnessed so much love for the police doing their job in one Vortex thread.

[vwjoem]

...So everyone here just got a ticket for reading the sign.

[24vGTiVR6]

I wholeheartedly agree with the cell phone / mobile device ban while driving. There's too many idiots out there that cannot do 2 things at once.... and when one of those two things can potentially kill others it's a good thing to stop... so peel / halton

The issue arises though at how far this is going to go? clown cops? mime cops? street sweeper / windshield washer homeless cops? undercover / unmarked civic street racer cops? taxi cab cops? I mean where's the line? My only concern is if an undercover or plain-clothed officer stops me, how do I know he's legit and not some ******* trying to con me?

With the amount of "undercover" operations going on recently I think it's very possible that cons can quite easily exist with this type of situation. Be careful and smart out there.

[JOHNS92JETTA]

My only concern is if an undercover or plain-clothed officer stops me, how do I know he's legit and not some ******* trying to con me?

All real cops must produce ID when demanded.

Ask for a badge number. Then ask for a business card. Call the number to the station on the card and talk to the desk sergeant. Verify officers info. If it checks out, its legit. If not GTFO and call 911.

[24vGTiVR6]

Just like how all police must give you their badge number when asked? Almost none of them have when I've asked.... they just gave me my license / insurance back and left??

When identifying cops becomes difficult you don't know how you're supposed to react..... for nervous and/or skiddish drivers out there that could be an issue. That's all I'm saying.

Example-
6/7 months ago I was pulled over by an F150. This guy mustve been pulling a 48 hr shift or something cuz he didn't look too good at all (health wise). Anyway he was plain clothed, just a wind breaker jacket + t-shirt + jeans.... no badge visible.... but the gun sure was. Long story short I asked for identification and he provided it, turned out he was a detective (nice guy too). But the whole time before that my gf was practically screaming at me to peel out cuz "he didn't look right".

Just got me thinking what problems something like that could potentially cause. Identification and your reaction based on that ID is an issue.

[superghia]

What ever. I love the idea. Too many retards on there phones while driving.

[thrillhouse]

my 2 cents, having a conversation with someone thats not actually in the car is whats distracting, enough with the *hands free* stuff cause everyone here can drive with one hand, even blue tooth drivers are retard once there deep in some conversation and miss an exit or street.

[wikdslo]

my 2 cents, having a conversation with someone thats not actually in the car is whats distracting, enough with the *hands free* stuff cause everyone here can drive with one hand, even blue tooth drivers are retard once there deep in some conversation and miss an exit or street.

+1

I would say it can't hurt to ticket people talking on their cell phones.
But there are still lots of crappy drivers out there that aren't on cell phones that need tickets just the same!