Police spend £20,000 on cardboard officers

Police forces have spent more than £20,000 on cardboard cut-outs of uniformed officers designed to confuse criminals. It was billed as the latest police tactic to combat crime and now the idea has taken off nationwide.

Police figures show that forces across the country have spent more than £20,000 on the flat-pack PCs.

West Midlands police said it had ordered 80 cardboard constables at a cost of just over £10,000. In Derbyshire, £6,650 was spent over the past two years on a "substantial number" of cut-outs.



"The theory is that it creates the impression at first glance of a capable guardian being on site, which hopefully also reduces the perception of fear of crime," said a Derbyshire police spokesman. A survey using the Freedom of Information Act revealed that 13 forces in England and Wales have used cardboard officers.

Rank-and-file officers, however, questioned the wisdom of spending police funds on fake officers. Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, said: "While I appreciate that money may be tight for policing, this does seems a drastic solution to avoid paying any salary and pension costs.

"Ultimately it will be for local residents to decide if cardboard police officers work for their community and are good use of their taxes."