Floppy coppers got to stop the dodgy shoppers

New enforcement has been drafted in to help keep crime and theft levels low in the Earlsdon area of Coventry.

A card-board cut-out of a uniformed officer stands at 6ft tall, arms crossed and looks menacing as he guards the entrance of Earlsdon’s Co-op.

The measure is a part of the West Midlands Police’s Operation Simulant, a three month plan to curb cases of shoplifting in the store and in the surrounding areas.

A second year history student, Tom Unsworth who lives in Earlsdon, welcomed the move and called for more measures of this sort to be put in place in other parts of Coventry that were prone to incidents of theft:

“People think it’s a bit weird that a cut-out could actually do some good, but it does. You feel safer visiting the store now, so it’d be great to see this kind of thinking happening in other places too.” Alongside the super cop, local police have been heavily involved in monitoring the situation at the Earlsdon Co-op, working with the employees of the store, with the help of newly installed CCTV equipment and an in-store detective.

The initial experiment with the cardboard cut-out has proved so effective in reducing the cases of shoplifting that only one case of theft has been recorded, whereby with the help of the presence of a store detective the suspect was arrested. The success of the cardboard officer as a deterrent of crime has led to another cut-out being placed outside the Post Office down the road to the Co-op with plans of more stores taking up the move.

Inspector Alistair Orencas, of Fletchamstead Highway police station, explained why the ingenious measure had been so successful. He said: “The idea behind it is when people drive or walk past it and catch it out of the corner of their eye, it does look like a real police officer. It is also a reminder to those who are thinking of shoplifting in the area that if they do so, they will be challenged.”

Such a move appears to have acted has a reassurance to Warwick students and local residents who reside in the area, after an increasing level of thefts and crime had been occurring in the vicinity. Although the police operation is coming to an end, the cut out will still be in place and continue to act as a preventative measure.