Policeman stolen

**Standard Dave** · 08-11-07, 05:06 AM

Life-size police cut-out stolen

Two teenage girls were arrested on suspicion of stealing a life-size cardboard cut-out of a Surrey town's local policing team.

The 6ft-tall (1.8m) figure was taken from the Co-op store, in Green Lane, Farncombe, on Tuesday night.
The cut-out of Pc Jim Lavery and PCSO Nicole Pearce is still missing.
A 15-year-old Godalming girl is due in court on Thursday charged with theft. A 14-year-old from Farncombe was bailed to attend a police intervention clinic.
Leaflet boxes for the local community were attached to the cardboard cut-out. Pc Lavery said: "It is disappointing that an initiative intended to benefit the whole community has been ruined."

**countybear** · 08-11-07, 05:10 AM

... future badge bunnies

**Jenna** · 08-11-07, 05:12 AM

Why do they have these cut-outs in the first place? Is it supposed to scare criminals away the way scarecrow scares crows away?

**Standard Dave** · 08-11-07, 06:09 AM

This cut out appears to be part of the neighbourhood policing model where the officers are all known to local residents and criminals. It's supposed to be more personal and reassure the public.

**Jenna** · 08-11-07, 06:39 AM

So I guess the officer in the cutout would not be able to do much undercover work, right?

Do the have this kind of thing in the US?

**Buttercup** · 08-11-07, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by Jenna

So I guess the officer in the cutout would not be able to do much undercover work, right?

Do the have this kind of thing in the US?

My local department gives trading cards of the officers to children and I think to senior citizens.

**gozling** · 08-11-07, 09:14 AM

umm i found this really funny

you know... its their own blowup copper

**Trojan 42** · 08-11-07, 12:53 PM

Perhaps they thought they were real PCSO's, Dave?

It would be very hard to tell the difference.

**Standard Dave** · 08-11-07, 01:10 PM

Well PCSOs are known as fake feds or plastic policemen.

**10-42Adam** · 08-11-07, 07:01 PM

I would love to know the reason why the girls actually stole them. To idolize, or torture?!

**lewisipso** · 08-11-07, 07:12 PM

The Kenner (Louisiana) Police Department used to use broke down units and black cardboard cutouts behind the wheel to slow down speeders.

**Ducky** · 08-11-07, 08:35 PM

There's some town between here and Charleston SC that uses a broken down squad car with a dummy behind the wheel, and has him parked strategically near the interstate.

**TXCharlie** · 08-11-07, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Standard Dave

Pc Lavery said: "It is disappointing that an initiative intended to benefit the whole community has been ruined."

Can't they find some more cardboard?

**Sapper_132** · 08-11-07, 11:14 PM

In California the CHP used to place a cutout of a CHP unit on mountain sides in areas with alot of brush. If you weren't looking closly it looked like a real car.

**Jarvis** · 08-11-07, 11:21 PM

here in boston, the HOV lane is 2 or more passengers required, but its much much faster. I got caught a couple years ago using a blow-up doll (no, not a sexual one... a background doll used in films), wrapped in a flannel shirt to fake a second passenger. $25 ticket

**Buttercup** · 08-12-07, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Ducky

There's some town between here and Charleston SC that uses a broken down squad car with a dummy behind the wheel, and has him parked strategically near the interstate.

We have one of those - Officer Manny. From the website:

Officer Manny is a successful and cost effective program. It is like having another officer on the road for about 10 hours a day. Officer Manny is effective in slowing down the traffic in the area which it is assigned. For those of you who have never seen Officer Manny, it is our mannequin Officer that is put out daily in a marked patrol car for the purpose of raising awareness of drivers' speeds. It appears at various locations in the Township, mostly in response to complaints of residents. A speed display system, which displays the speed of approaching vehicles, has also been added to Officer Manny's car in an effort to increase driver awareness regarding speed. The Traffic Bureau will then take follow-up measure by enforcing the speed limit and ticketing violators.

**Jenna** · 08-12-07, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by Buttercup

Officer Manny is a successful and cost effective program. It is like having another officer on the road for about 10 hours a day. Officer Manny is effective in slowing down the traffic in the area which it is assigned. For those of you who have never seen Officer Manny, it is our mannequin Officer that is put out daily in a marked patrol car for the purpose of raising awareness of drivers' speeds.

Reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_After_Hours

"Express elevator to the ninth floor of a department store, carrying Miss Marsha White on a most prosaic, ordinary, run-of-the-mill errand. Miss Marsha White on the ninth floor, specialties department, looking for a gold thimble. The odds are she'll find it, but there are even better odds that she'll find something else, because this isn't just a department store. This happens to be the Twilight Zone."

Marsha White, a woman browsing for a gift for her mother in a department store decides on a gold thimble and is taken by elevator to the 9th floor. During the sales transaction, she grows increasingly puzzled by the comments and actions of both the male elevator operator who transported her to the barren, seemingly deserted floor, and the aloof female salesclerk behind the counter who sells her the thimble. As Marsha rides the elevator back down from the 9th floor, she notices that the thimble is scratched and dented, and is directed by the elevator operator to the Complaints Department on the third floor. But, when she tries to convince Mr. Armbruster, the sales supervisor, and Mr. Sloan, the store manager, that she bought the item on the 9th floor, she is told that the 9th floor doesn't exist. Marsha then becomes distraught after she spots the salesclerk who sold her the thimble and is shocked to discover that the woman isn't really a salesclerk at all -- she's one of the department store's display mannequins. While resting in an office following her frightening discovery, Marsha finds herself locked inside in the now-closed store. She attempts to find a way out, and becomes alarmed by mysterious voices calling to her and by some subtle movements made by the supposedly lifeless mannequins around her. Becoming hysterical, she flees to an elevator, which once again transports her to the unoccupied 9th floor. There, she learns from the others present -- mannequins who suddenly come to life and greet her -- that she, too, is a mannequin. Each one of them gets to go out into the world and live among the humans for one month. But Marsha had enjoyed her stay among "the others" so much that she had lost track of her return date and was away from the store for too long; she had forgotten her true nature. But now she realizes that she is back in her proper place, which allows the next mannequin in line -- the female salesclerk who sold her the thimble -- to go out and live among the humans for 30 days. As Marsha fondly recalls her brief sojourn out among the humans, she grows rigid and statue-like. The next day the store supervisor, Mr. Armbruster, is making his morning rounds on the salesfloor and does a sudden double-take upon seeing a faintly familiar-looking mannequin on display.

"Marsha White in her normal and natural state...But it makes you wonder, doesn't it? Just how normal are we? Just who are the people we nod our hello's to as we pass on the street? A rather good question to ask, particularly in the Twilight Zone...

**trekgirl** · 08-12-07, 09:26 PM

Could be fun. I have a life size cut out of Legolas from Lord of the Rings...scares everybody who comes into the house. An officer cutout might prove far more entertaining.