New Meaning to "Tree Police"

They never had this job around when we were rookies:

• Drivers could not beat around the bush when it came to being charged with distracted driving in a New Jersey suburb this week as a cop disguised himself as a shrub to spot motorists on their phones while behind the wheel.

  The Dunellen police officer camouflaged himself and employed a pair of binoculars to covertly execute  the distracted-driving enforcement operation in the town of 8,000 about 30 miles from New York City.

There's even a picture:

We'd agree with arguments that this is nothing more than a money grab by the Dunellen, New Jersey PD and local government (the fines start at $200 and escalate from there). But we've also seen more than enough distracted drivers hitting, injuring and killing people to say something ought to be done.