CARDBOARD COPPERS!

After the arrival of David Blunkett's much-maligned 'plastic bobbies' meet the latest addition to the thin blue line - 'cardboard coppers'.

The life-size flat-pack answer to frontline policing was unveiled by Cleveland Police today in a bid to combat pick-pockets.

The cardboard cut-out of PC Sharyn Brunton will be placed in and around shops in Redcar 'to remind criminals that they are being watched'.

And yet - at a time when the number of police officers is in decline - the idea appears to be taking off nationwide.

Police figures show that forces around 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 two years on a 'substantial number' of cut-outs which cost between £12 and £30 each.

A total of 13 forces in England and Wales have used cardboard officers. Essex police said it spent £760 on eight cut-outs.

They have been deployed in petrol stations, to deter drivers from speeding away without paying for their fuel, and also in shops to discourage shoplifting.

Some forces plan to recoup costs from the shops that benefit, but it is not known if any money has yet been received.

Cleveland police, which unveiled its cardboard coppers yesterday, spent £1,760.

The other forces that have used cut-outs are North Wales, South Wales, Greater Manchester, Durham, Humberside, Lancashire, Avon and Somerset, Norfolk and Surrey.

But rank-and-file officers questioned the wisdom of spending police funds on fake officers.

Simon Reed, the vice-chairman of the Police Federation, said: 'This does seems a drastic solution to avoid paying any salary and pension costs.'

There have also been a number of thefts of cardboard coppers - including that of cardboard PC Bob Molloy.

His presence in the Derbyshire village of Belper was credited with reducing the number of thefts - that is until he was stolen.

Cleveland Police hope their cardboard copper will reduce the number of thefts of elderly women.

Last night, PC Brunton said: 'I have no doubt that these life size figures do help reduce shoplifting.

'People who work in stores across the Force area have actually approached me while I’ve been on and off duty and said they are a godsend and a valuable tool in the fight against retail crime.'

A report published at the end of last year by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College, London, claimed the number of police constables in England and Wales fell from 109,279 in 2006 to 107,819 in 2007 - a fall of 1,460.

In the same period, the number of Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs) - Blunkett's pastic bobbies - doubled (Cardboard Coppers)

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