Is Toronto’s ‘Hobocop’ tactic a sneaky or smart way to catch distracted drivers in action?

A Toronto police officer in the city’s east end recently dressed himself in a hoody, baseball cap, jeans and sunglasses, wrote a message on a piece of cardboard and, not unlike many members of Toronto’s homeless community, wandered along a city street while peeking at drivers as the cars passed by.

On one side of the sign, the message read, “I’ve got high hopes – Frank Sinatra.” On the other, the message was more direct.

It read: “Hello, I am a police officer. If you are reading this you are about to get a cell phone ticket."

An image of the officer in disguise was tweeted out by Const. Randall Arsenault and prompted a firestorm of responses, from residents who felt the tactic was sneaky and underhanded as well as those who celebrated its ingenuity.

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Compliments to the Toronto Sun's Joe Warmington for coining the perfect nickname for the officer. He called him "Hobocop."

Warmington doesn't like the optics of such endeavors, calling them "something out of the Stasi era of pre-1989 East Germany or 2014 policing in a modern era of communications’ technology."

It is apparent from the rest of his article that he leans toward the former, criticizing the undercover coppery as an indication that governments use police as tax collectors.

And sure, distracted driving charges in Ontario can result in fines as high as $280 (legislation proposed earlier this month recommended three demerit points and fines as high as $1,000), but unchecked distracted driving can result in the death of innocent pedestrians. And that is not just hyperbole.

The Ontario Provincial Police declared distracted driving the "number one killer on roads," responsible for 78 deaths in the province last year. Impaired driving was responsible for 57 deaths.

Distracted driving was also found to be responsible for 34 per cent of crashes involving young drivers in British Columbia that ended in injuries or death.

Distracted driving has reached a point where it is considered on par with drinking and driving. And police should do whatever it takes to raise awareness and crack down on its prevalence.

People know they shouldn't play with their phones while driving, but many do it anyway, when police aren't around at least. Or when they think police aren’t around.

This is not the first time a Canadian law enforcement agency has used such sneaky means to nab distracted drivers.

Ottawa police used the same hobocop tactic in 2012. The National Post reported that it was part of a series of similar schemes used across the country at the time, from Salmon Arm, B.C. to Burlington, Ont.

On Easter that year, a Nanaimo, B.C., officer dressed up as the Easter Bunny to get a good look into cars. Elsewhere, officers have dressed as construction workers or in plainclothes.

In Victoria, B.C., Thunder Bay, Ont., and Toronto, officers have recently spied out distracted drivers by riding the bus and hopping out when offenders are spotted at intersections.

In an era of Big Brother monitoring devices and NSA-style online creepery, it is refreshing to see cloak-and-dagger operations like the hobocop initiative in action.

And the fact that we’re talking about it makes it all that more successful. Don’t drive while distracted. Police could be anywhere. And now you know that.

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