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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: July 21, 2013

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DUMB COPS OF THE WEEK: FAKE MURDER SCENE

by Hazed

If there’s one thing I enjoy more than a dumb criminal story, it’s a dumb cop story. Although this isn’t so much dumb cops as dumb party host - it’s about a joke that left many people worried.

Residents in the small town of Spalding in Lincolnshire, England, were shocked when they saw their local pub - the Punchbowl - covered in police tape, and with the outline of a body chalked onto the pavement outside.

Not unnaturally, many of them called the pub in panic, convinced that a major incident of some kind had occurred and wanting to know what had happened.

Had they looked through the pub window they would have seen the place swarming with police. But they weren’t there to investigate a crime. No, the murder scene was a fake, set up to celebrate the retirement of local police sergeant Stuart Brotherton.

Inside the pub, the landlord of the Punchbowl, Pete Williams, had thoroughly entered into the spirit of things. He’d placed mock floral tributes for the non-existent murder victims, and he’d spread ketchup around the floor to look like blood splatters. Staff had shelled out to buy genuine police uniforms to wear, as well as special scanners to check every bank note the police used to buy drinks. And for food, they provided... wait for it... a hog roast!

Landlord Pete seems to think the whole thing is one big joke. “I must have had 20 or so phone calls from people throughout the evening and they genuinely thought something had happened. I had loads of people calling just asking what was going on, and if it was anyone they knew.

“Also Facebook started going crazy with all sorts of rumours. People are not used to serious crimes around these parts.

“The amusing thing is that if any of them had tried to call 999 to find out what was going on they wouldn’t have got anyone because all the police were here.

“It was all worth it for a great send off for Stuart, who has been a really great local policeman for the last 30 years.”

But local residents were angry that they weren’t told about the stunt in advance. Richard Thomson said that after he passed by the pub and saw the supposed crime scene, he got his wife to phone the landlord to find out what was going on. “I was going to my car and I got the shock of my life when I saw the windows all taped up and these chalk marks outside. I immediately told my wife and she called the pub to check that everyone was OK.

“We really thought there was something really bad happening there. They should have given people some warning.”

He wasn’t alone in his concern. Another local said, “It gave me a right old shock - I didn’t find it that amusing. It’s a serious part of their job visiting crime scenes and to have that as a theme for a party is in bad taste, I believe.”

Well it sounds like it was a great party, and if they’d kept the “decorations” inside the pub I am sure it would have been unremarked. But I can understand why the locals were worried - particularly in a small town that doesn’t see much crime, and where anything out of the ordinary is a cause for anxiety. Given how much the government has ratcheted up fears or crime and terrorism over recent years, it’s hardly a surprise that people over-react to incidents in their home towns.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10171138/Fake-murder-scene-at-police-chiefs-retirement-party-sparks-panic.html

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