NZ pose as window washers to catch people on their phones
Rock News
Rock News

NZ Police were caught posing as roadside window washers to catch people on their phones

How bloody good would it be knowing you’ve made a cop wash your car though?

Someone spotted a police officer allegedly posing as a window washer to catch people on their phones in traffic and filmed the whole confrontation.

After the man filming confronted the undercover officer, other uniformed officers arrived on the scene in South Auckland and confirmed the window washer was in fact a police officer.

The person filming sent the video to Today FM, who uploaded it to YouTube.

Video below - WARNING: Expletive language, be advised.

Counties Manakau Police have admitted that they were in the wrong. In a statement, they say "the use of plainclothes officers to watch for the offences is a standard operating tactic."

"We acknowledge the officer dressing to appear as a window washer is not appropriate."

You can hear officers asking the man filming to move on, otherwise facing arrest for obstruction. 

Aneil, who was driving the car in the video, called Today FM's Duncan Garner on Wednesday morning to explain things from his perspective and recount first-hand what he saw.

Watch the full conversation below.

He told Today FM he and his mate were up from Wellington when they noticed the window washer and some police standing further down the street. Aneil reckons that having someone peer into your car window can be menacing and distracting, even if you're not breaking any law.

“I just think that it’s really intimidating for the people that are sitting in their cars, even if they’re not on their phones, by having some guy prowling in their windows,” he said.

“I mean, window washers don’t usually do that. They usually give you a heads up to wash your window, you know?”

He also talked about how the police surrounding his friend and questioning him was not on. 

“To have three, four, five Police officers surround my friend, that’s really like an intimidating tactic towards him as well,” he said.

“And I’ll give it to him for being able to carry on questioning them and being able to get it out there into the public eye what they’re doing there - that’s going against police code.”