Fighting speed with plastic

Local news media recently carried the story of the Windsor, CO Police Department, which has become the latest police department to use a stand-in to combat speeding drivers. In this case, they use a life-size plastic cutout of one of their officers holding a radar gun. Only as drivers pass by do they notice that the "officer" is slightly thicker than a popsicle stick.

As seen on TV, the officer simply takes his cutout, places it along a stretch of road, and then moves on to another location, where he does traffic enforcement for real.

We think there is some potential here, although we would suggest alternating real and cut-out officers at each location...better to keep drivers guessing.

We were also about to suggest that perhaps local businesses would like to get their own cut-outs, but we recall the story earlier in the year of a little old lady somewhere in Central Florida who rigged up her own radar gun to activate a flashing yellow light when speeders went by. As we recall the story, she was cited for violating some law or ordinance regarding traffic control devices. So in the meantime, if you're concerned about traffic enforcement (even if you're an outsourced blogger living elsewhere), perhaps you could make a donation to the city to allow them to get some "plastic officers."