Police are not like that. They come when they're not needed – much less wanted. They are always prowling around looking for reasons to police people. The word is italicized to emphasize an important point. Rather, to raise some important questions. Is "policing" a justifiable thing? What do we mean by "policing"? Well, in general, it means enforcing laws. These laws need not be good laws – in the moral sense. All that matters, as far as the police are concerned, is that the law is the law.

This brings us to some policing that's been going on in New Jersey, in a town called Dunellen. The local police dressed up in ghillie suits – these are suits that make a man look like a bush and are usually used by military snipers and hunters to avoid being seen by their targets, which is just exactly how they were used by the police in Dunellen, NJ. Their targets were drivers who transgressed the law that says Thou Shallt Not Use Your Phone While Driving. Ghillie-suited cops hid themselves in plain sight, waiting for transgressors. At least 74 such paying customers – so to speak – were bagged. In New Jersey, it is a transgression to use a phone while driving and the punishment for this transgression ranges from $200-$400 for a first-time transgression. If additional transgressions are committed, the fines go up.

The Dunellen police say that "that text or notification can wait. Keep your eyes on the road, not your screen." This is fascinating on several levels. In no particular order, let's begin with the fact that police are constantly on their screens – the big computers that are built into every police car.  They are regularly on them while they are policing (that is, driving around looking for people to police). Of course – and to be fair – so is everyone else. At least, so is everyone else who is driving around in a car made since about five years ago, when built-in smartphones became standard in all new cars. They have even bigger screens to keep you distracted and lots of icons to tap and swipe, too.

This is entirely legal.