Elves With an Attitude

Leave it to the traffic cops to find a seasonal way to fool drivers:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- In Orange County, the problem isn't dashing through the snow. It's cars darting down the street at high speeds.

So the Orange County Sheriff's Office is doing something about it, launching Operation ELF: Enforcing Limits and Fining speeders.

Here's how it works: a sheriff's deputy dressed as an elf clocks cars using a radar gun then dispatches a motorcycle deputy to pull them over and issue the driver a ticket.

More than 150 tickets were written in just over two hours Thursday.

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."

Although though this may punish some well-deserving speeders, I don't think this is a good idea from a public relations standpoint. People don't like to be fooled, and to take an icon from the season and abuse it like this won't win them any friends.