150 Drivers Ticketed In About 2 Hours

In Orange County, Florida, the problem isn’t dashing through the snow — It’s cars darting down the street at high speeds.

So, in mid-December, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office decided to do something about it by launching Operation ELF: Enforcing Limits and Fining speeders. Here’s how it worked: a sheriff’s deputy dressed as an elf clocked cars using a radar gun then dispatched a motorcycle deputy to pull them over and issue the driver a ticket.

More than 150 tickets were written in just over two hours one December afternoon. Some people said using a holiday icon to enforce the law didn’t seem right.

“That’s specifically why we didn’t use Santa Claus,” Ken Wyne of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. “We didn’t choose a nativity scene. We chose an elf. An elf is known for their impish behavior. If you’re going to speed in Orange County, you never know who’s going to be on the street corner.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office continues to use various disguises throughout the holiday seasons. Watch Out!