New Zealand window washer detained and revealed as undercover cop

A window cleaner at a traffic light turned out to be an undercover cop trying to catch drivers on their phones or driving through a red light after uniform police clumsily intervened in the stabbing operation.

The New Zealand police officer in disguise was caught on camera looking bizarrely at motorists at a traffic light in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa.

He is captured by a man parked across the road who explained in the video that he had received a ticket from the window cleaner.

“It’s the cop there,” he said. “He’s the cop who gave me the ticket.”

Another man in the car says, “He pretends to be a window cleaner. That’s a damn rough man.’

“I’m about to get out, bro,” the man who recorded the video continued.

He gets out of his vehicle and runs across the road to confront him.

Arriving at him, the man tells a passing motorist that the window cleaner was a cop.

He then turns the camera around and follows the disguised police officer.

“Okay guys, so we’ve got police here pretending to be window cleaners,” he tells the camera.

“So what they do is they stand here and dress up in hoodies with a window cleaner and they watch and try to get people into Manurewa.”

He identifies the officer as the man who gave him the ticket and describes him as a “true bully” trying to “intimidate, not educate.”

The uniformed police arrive at the scene and ask the man answering if he is threatening the disguised cop.

The man responds by asking if he was a cop, which police confirm he is.

It was then revealed that the officer was part of a sting operation in which he would flag drivers committing traffic violations and direct them to a nearby parking lot with a police unit.

The officer in disguise (pictured left) was part of a police action to catch motorists using their phones or going through a red light

Police admitted it was inappropriate to have a cop dressed as a window cleaner and would not happen again, despite such operations being used to “prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”

Police have admitted that having a cop dressed up as a window cleaner to book people was inappropriate and would not happen again.

“We will communicate with our staff that this should not happen again in the future,” Inspector Tony Wakelin, Superintendent of Manukau Province, told police. New Zealand Herald in a statement.

“Here were lessons for their staff on the proper way to conduct these operations in the future. And I’ll make sure those conversations are held.’

However, Inspector Wakelin added that tactics such as those at the traffic stop were part of the police’s efforts to make the roads safer.

“Using a plainclothes officer to oversee these violations is a standard operation tactic to prevent death and serious injury on our roads.”