Fuzz Buster to The Rescue

Gbalogh via Flickr/CC

Miami-Dade police began an unholy crackdown on speeders this past week, leaving plenty of bad South Florida drivers to gripe about record-high $600 tickets. For road demons who are still stewing, meet the county's latest citizen watchdog: A self-appointed speed trap sleuth who calls himself "The Fuzz Buster." The sly, secretive Coral Gables man prides himself on revealing the times and locations of the 5-0's favorite sneaky spots to radar around town. He posts the colorful warnings in the "local news" section of Craigslist Miami. On April 24, for example, he advised: "After dark, usually around 10 p.m. cops sit in the dark beside the Granada golf course, pointing their laser guns at cars coming north from Coral Way." He followed it up with a couple obligatory copper slurs and signed off, "The Fuzz Buster."

Four days later, he checked back in with his readers. This time, his post was titled: "Speed Trap Gone." He credited himself. "One must assume [people are] passing these postings on to the Gables authorities," he writes. The Fuzz Buster-- who we imagine wears a Dick Tracy trench coat and carries a magnifying glass-- would only communicate with Riptide via posts on Craigslist. He says Coral Gables Police have subpoenaed the website for his e-mail and computer routing number in order to file a libel suit against him. He wouldn't phone Riptide because he couldn't be sure we weren't "a spy." (Turns out, we are not.)

Says Coral Gables Police Spokesperson Janette Frevola: "It's the first I've heard of him. It seems like people should have the right to say what they want."

Is he paranoid? Probably. But he's also undeterred. "Stay Tuned," he writes. "There's more to come...Keep your eye on the needle."