MISSISSAUGA

Did you hear Peel Regional Police officers are sitting on Mississauga buses and spying on would-be distracted drivers in cars below?

Sound like something out of East Berlin when they were behind the wall.

But it’s true.

Be warned, if you are talking or texting while driving in Mississauga look up and smile if you notice a MiWay bus driving by you.

Or quickly hide that smartphone, iPad, burrito, coffee or burger.

But if you are soon pulled over by Peel copper and get a ticket you will know it was too late.

Gotchya.

Big Brother at work with a little help from public transit.

“Please be advised that Peel Regional Police have commenced a ‘safety blitz’ as part of their Distracted Driver campaign,” Roy Kenealy, MiWay’s superintendent of operations, wrote to staff Wednesday. “As part of this campaign, uniformed Peel Regional Police officers will be boarding MiWay buses and while seated on the bus, will be observing passing vehicles looking for distracted drivers. The officer would then notify a following officer in a cruiser and the violator would be stopped.”

Violation of privacy?

Good policing?

Or both?

It’s certainly innovative revenue generation.

MiWay refused comment but this initiative does raise some questions.

What happens if they see drugs in the car? Will they still need a warrant?

Can the bus driver be asked to speed up or slow down?

Can the passengers on the bus assist if they see a talker or texter on their side of the bus?

Get a pat on the head from the state for snitching on a “violator?”

The Stasi would be proud. So would Havana’s “Seguridad del Estado.” Such keeping track of the population also works pretty well for the National Security Bureau in Pyongyang.

But there’s nothing obvious in the archives to show any of those stealthy secret police agencies ever thought of snooping on the population from one of their own buses.

Sneaky.

Somebody call whistle-blowers Julian Assange or Edward Snowden.

All kidding aside, even if you are a proponent of safety, is resorting to this really the way to go?

Are there more pressing criminal concerns than to spy on people already having a tough enough time navigating gridlock, rush hour and who are largely law abiding and pay their taxes?

“I would be uncomfortable as a driver to allow these ‘Big Brothers’ on my bus,” said one driver who says the buses are for passengers and not for policing.

He wasn’t given a choice.

And Peel Regional Police defend the action as an effective part of their already successful “Talk and Text” project.

“There are a variety of strategies and an officer boarding the buses is one of them,” said Const. Lilly Fitzpatrick.

Since Sept. 9 police have laid at least 48 distracted driving charges in Peel Region.

With the advantage of being above the drivers, clearly there will be more to come.

Similar action was utilized by Toronto Police on TTC streetcars earlier this year but it’s a first for Mississauga.

“We haven’t had any cases like that so far,” said Jenna Little, a paralegal for X-Copper traffic ticket service. ”If police decide they want to do that, that’s there choice.”

She admits it will be interesting to see when such cases get to court if police will be offering video or pictorial evidence taken from the bus.

In a way there could be more expense to this operation since when cases are disputed, there could be two officers asked to appear in court instead of just one.

No word yet if the bus drivers and passengers can also be subpoenaed.