Police, Dressed As Homeless, Give Tickets Thu May 22, 7:25 AM ET

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.

Hey, lots of people say their local cops are bums. These cops are just admitting it. What's the problem?

"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."

OK, so it may be insulting to the homeless. But it's also appropriately critical of the people who don't see the homeless when they walk by them, so it's got as much claim to political correctness as incorrectness.

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.

The state assemblycritter was so negligent that his daughter hadn't learned to wear seat belts (regardless of who was driving) and the voters elected him? Sigh. It's too bad that Darwin didn't take out him instead of his kid.