A police officer in the small New Jersey borough of Dunellen took undercover work to a whole new level this week by dressing up as a shrub to catch distracted drivers illegally glued to their cellphones.
The unconventional tactic paid off for the Dunellen Police Department, which handed out 74 citations in just six hours on a busy downtown road.
The operation, conducted on Wednesday, targeted motorists violating New Jersey’s strict cellphone law in a pedestrian-heavy area known for traffic and a relatively high number of accidents for a one-square-mile town.
The department boasted about the high citations in a post on Facebook, which included a photo of the officer in his disguise.
“Did you spot our ‘shrub’ today? If you had your head buried in your phone, probably not!” the post declared. “Our ‘shrub’ was busy. We issued 74 citations to drivers distracted by their devices in a six-hour window.”
The post went on to urge drivers that “that text or notification can wait. Keep your eyes on the road, not your screen!”
Photos accompanying the announcement showed an officer fully outfitted in a green ghillie-style suit of artificial leaves and branches, standing on the sidewalk near a tree and peering through binoculars at passing cars.
Another photo from the department’s post featured an officer wearing a T-shirt boldly proclaiming “Not a Cop.”
Don’t let the bushes fool you. A police department outside New York City is using an unusual technique to catch distracted drivers: with an officer dressed in disguise as a shrub and using a pair of binoculars. pic.twitter.com/Wnz1itG5Hc
— ABC News (@ABC) July 31, 2026
New Jersey law bans talking or texting on a cellphone while driving. First offenses carry fines of $200 to $400, with penalties rising to $400–$600 for a second offense and $600–$800, plus potential points and a possible 90-day license suspension, for subsequent offenses.
Det. Sgt. Nicholas Goldman of the Dunellen force told CBS News that the department has seen a concerning number of accidents, so they decided to try a unique enforcement method.
“While it was a fun thing, the underlying mission is incredibly serious. For a one-square-mile town, we have a relatively high number of accidents, and we were looking for a unique enforcement method,” Goldman said.
Dunellen Borough traffic safety patrolman Kevin Condis added, “So what we’re seeing a lot of is people usually just holding their phones, following either a GPS, or FaceTiming a lot of the time, you know, we did get, unfortunately, see a lot of people holding the phone with two hands and, like, almost driving with their knees, which sounds crazy, but, you know, there’s a lot of people that were doing it.”
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