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Police dressed as homeless hand out tickets

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Police, Dressed As Homeless, Give Tickets

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Homeless advocates are outraged by an operation where undercover police officers dressed as vagrants, observed drivers running red lights or committing other traffic violations, then radioed ahead to other officers who stopped those cars and wrote tickets.

"Operation Vagrant," a sting operation involving the Florida Highway Patrol, Kissimmee police and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, nabbed 171 drivers — most of whom ran red lights, a violation that carries an $83 fine.

Undercover deputies stood along streets and gave the indication they were vagrants by pushing shopping carts and wearing fake teeth and tattered clothing. They also carried small cardboard signs, which read, "Sheriff's traffic sting in progress. Buckle up."

"It's kind of appalling," said Marilyn Gordon, executive director of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. "I wonder if it will be a consciousness-raising exercise for the law-enforcement officers."

Robert H. Brown, president and chief executive officer of the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, said the officers were being silly.

"It's ironic that they would use a disguise of someone that people think of as visually offensive," Brown said. "I just think it shows that the community's aware of the homeless problem. I wish they would solve it, rather than masquerading."

Osceola sheriff's bureau Chief Jerry Geier said the sting was designed to raise awareness about dangerous intersections.

Nearly 25,000 drivers were ticketed for running red lights in Florida in 2001, and 107 deaths that year were attributed to drivers disregarding traffic signals. Plus, police nationwide started a new initiative this week to call attention to dangers of riding in a vehicle without using a seat belt.

"Our ultimate goal is to make an impact," Geier said. "The last thing we're trying to do is disrespect anybody."

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, an advocate of stronger seat-belt and other traffic-safety laws, applauded the sting operation. His daughter, Dori, 14, was killed in a 1996 traffic accident in which she did not wear a seat belt.

"I admire them for being creative," Slosberg said.

I don't understand why people would have a problem with this.
When I speed I know that I'm taking the risk of getting a ticket. If people had to think about shit like this it may make people like me slow down a little. Until it happens I'll keep my foot smashed to the floor. :D

I think its a fantastic idea and I applaud them. I love that they displayed a cardboard sign that said "Sheriff....". LMAO! I don't understand why anyone is upset about the homeless person disguise. Would they be equally upset if it the sheriff were dressed the same way while doing surveillance to catch a rape or robbery suspect?

I speed all the time, but I never run red lights, and I very rarely run stop signs...But where I live there are a few that you can see for more then 1/4 mile both ways. And I do "rolling stops" quite a bit...

So in the end, the ticketed drivers deserved what they got.

Why do they have to be undercover to give out traffic tickets? Just sitting in their cop car is more than does the job. They should go undercover into the ghettos and bust more crackheads.

i commit all kinds of violations because i don't believe in limitations. good luck trying to catch me, if i get caught then i deserve it for being sloppy.

sounds good to me. you do the crime, don't whine.

as for the 'advvocates' wtf? they are catching driving jackoffs, not taking their space!

Hey its Florida what can I say. Now if I was homeless I would just print up fake tickets hand them out and demand payment.

This is an outraqe.

People who run red lights should have their licenses revoked, not be given tickets.

Bravo to the police. I hope they start doing that up here.

what was that Baretta song.. don't do the crime if you can't do the time... o/~

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Originally posted by Jesus Pimp
Why do they have to be undercover to give out traffic tickets? Just sitting in their cop car is more than does the job. They should go undercover into the ghettos and bust more crackheads.

Not very delicately put, but I agree here. And they can find just as many crackheads in suburbia by the way...

Nice thought, this operation. If your goal is to increase revenue to the city. Alot of time, manpower, and money went into this. If they just invested some of the same into lowering the crime rate...

I think this is great. I wish the police around here would put a little less effort into speeding (although I realize it's a problem too) and a little more into moving violations.

Red Lights, stop signs, incorrect lane changes, incorrect turns, pedestrian crossings etc.

I think the police should set up at a pedestrian crossing with an undercover pedestrian just crossing back and forth, then radio ahead all the tags of non-stoppers.

I also have an idea but it would never fly politically. I think that there should be a campaign for a term of a month or two, where instead of fines for moving violations, drivers would be summonsed directly to a required driver education refresher course. The fine would be the tuition, and no driver getting ticketed during this campaign would be allowed to renew his license without a certificate of completion including passing a written exam.

I have the above plan because I seriously feel that a lot of drivers do not know, or have forgotten many of the actual rules of the road. (others I know are just lazy or intentionally ignoring them)

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Because it's a lot easier to give us tickets for speeding and not wearing our seat belts than shutting down methlabs and busting "real criminals":rolleyes:

Did you see the video of the undercover cop posing as a drunk hobo trying to get people to take his money? It's on real tv sometimes, the guy will take his wallet or something and this bigass dude will blindside the crook and put him in cuffs, it's great.

I think cops should pose as animals next...they can run out into the street in front of cars, and when you swerve they write you a ticket for reckless driving. :)

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Originally posted by enjoyduff
I think cops should pose as animals next...they can run out into the street in front of cars, and when you swerve they write you a ticket for reckless driving. :)

:lol: now that I would like to see

As far as the homeless getup, I don't have a problem with it. I know I'd hate it if I were ticketed, but that's because I am at fault not the cops.

LOL whatever it takes

LOL

oomm

Kudos to the Sherriffs.

And it's hard not to spout off when someone shoves a soapbox in front of you.

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Originally posted by enjoyduff
I think cops should pose as animals next...they can run out into the street in front of cars, and when you swerve they write you a ticket for reckless driving. :)

Thanks for that laugh! I needed it! :D

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Originally posted by Phaenx
Did you see the video of the undercover cop posing as a drunk hobo trying to get people to take his money? It's on real tv sometimes, the guy will take his wallet or something and this bigass dude will blindside the crook and put him in cuffs, it's great.

I'm all for the police posing as whatever to catch criminals in the act, however, I think that posing as a drunk person so that someone can steal your wallet is kinda pushing the line. Basically it's entrapment. In the first scenario the police aren't encouraging you to break the law, they're simply devising new ways of observation, nothing wrong with that. In the second scenario they're tempting people to do things they wouldn't normally do then bust them for it, very many things wrong with this.

all u gotta do is watch COPS to realize how grimy cops are

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Originally posted by MacGnG
all u gotta do is watch COPS to realize how grimy cops are

Ya, I love the police, I think they're the coolest people, however, I think that they err too much on the side of caution. Most of the time they use overwhelming force to subdue a suspect, when a lot less would have sufficed. Like for example when a guy is clearly trying to give up, and the police jump on top of the guy to "make sure" he doesn't try anything funny. In retrospect I can see some situations where it is obviously necessary to use overwhelming force, it just sucks when an innocent person has to be subjected to such extreme behavior.