Skip to main content

Cause for offence

A British woman called the police to report that her scarecrow had been stolen, only to discover that the scarecrow had in fact been taken into custody by the police. The offending scarecrow had been placed outside a village dressed in a high visibility jacket and a police uniform, to highlight a scarecrow festival in the village.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A British woman called the police to report that her scarecrow had been stolen, only to discover that the scarecrow had in fact been taken into custody by the police. The offending scarecrow had been placed outside a village dressed in a high visibility jacket and a police uniform, to highlight a scarecrow festival in the village. The local police had been informed that this would take place and had given their approval. However when police drove past they spotted that the scarecrow also sported a fake radar detector made of cardboard. Realising that the fake cardboard radar gun posed a safety potential hazard and could have caused passing drivers to become alarmed, the police rushed the offending scarecrow into a police vehicle and took it to the local police station. A spokesperson explained that impersonating a police officer is an offence and added that the scarecrow sent an inappropriate message to motorists. The scarecrow maker commented that the fake radar gun was actually intended to encourage motorists to slow down.

Related Content

  • Lithuanian speed merchant
    January 14, 2015
    A Lithuanian man sparked an international police pursuit when he stole a BMW X6 car in Bavaria. The car thief hit speeds of 240km/h in the high performance car as he attempted to elude pursuit, with German police using no less than seven patrol vehicles to try and stop the stolen car. The thief headed towards the nearby German border with the Czech Republic, where Czech police had been alerted and then took over the pursuit, enlisting the use of a helicopter. When the stolen car ran out of fuel the driver a
  • Bridge down
    May 24, 2013
    Thieves in Turkey recently stole a bridge, which is then thought to have been cut up for scrap. The 25m long bridge weighed 22tonnes and was located close to a small village in Turkey’s western province of Kocaeli. When villagers realised the bridge had disappeared they called police who quickly ascertained that the structure had been cut to piece and hauled away for scrap. This follows a similar incident in India when a steel bridge was stolen by enterprising thieves, who convinced locals with forged docum
  • Apple’s aviation inaccuracies
    February 19, 2014
    Two drivers in Alaska caused some concern to aviation movements by following directions from Apple Maps. The drivers first crossed the taxiway and then the runway at Fairbanks Airport. How they were able to enter the supposedly secure airport however has not been revealed and nor have their IQ ratings. The drivers ignored numerous signposts and painted markings saying that the area they were entering was restricted to aircraft and not for road vehicles. The airport authorities erected barriers until the map
  • The road to climate change mitigation starts at Highways UK
    February 17, 2020
    David Arminas explored climate change innovation on display at Highways UK in Birmingham, England