Following reports in 'The Telegraph' this week that forces have spent more than £20,000 on cardboard cut-outs of uniformed officers Office Of Community Sousveillance has responded with its own PCSnOw WATCH officers placed around Nottingham city. “At a fraction of the cost we can create the impression at first glance of ‘a visible presence’ being on duty, which hopefully also reduces the perception of fear of crime.” claims Officer Rob O'Copp from The Office of Community Sousveillance
PCSnOw officer on duty
PCSnOw officer on duty
According to 'The Telegraph' 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."
Our plainclothes PCSnOw Watch officers will be out duty in your neighbourhood until the cold weather warms up.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4410417/Police-spend-20000-on-cardboard-officers.html
"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."
Our plainclothes PCSnOw Watch officers will be out duty in your neighbourhood until the cold weather warms up.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4410417/Police-spend-20000-on-cardboard-officers.html 
e-mail:
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
The cameras are frozen
05.02.2009 12:02
Officer Elephant and Castle
Please resize pics
05.02.2009 15:52
Thank you for your cooperation.
One of Notts IMC
snow is freedom
06.02.2009 13:27
Someone says that snow is falling
It's beautiful outside
Come take a look he cried
Looking through the open window
Through the iron bars snow dances
In the searchlight overhead
In the blue night sky, he said
"Snow is freedom
It makes me feel like I am flying
As though the flakes are stationary
and I am flying up"
Worried that when morning comes
All the best snow will be gone
But smugglers don't play in the snow
Only the politicals will be that romantic
Making snowballs in the cold air
Tasting snowflakes on his tongue
Things he loved when he was young
Snow is freedom
It makes me feel like I am flying
As though the flakes are stationary
and I am flying up
There are those who spend their lives
Travelling the land and skies
But their minds are never free
Blind to everything they see
Something simple like the snow
Reminds him of what he used to know
Though his body is in chains
Freedom is in his mind to change
Snow is freedom
It makes me feel like I am flying
As though the flakes are stationary
and I am flying up
Tracey Curtis
ambigram