Officer’s Kidnaping Ignored--He Was a Dummy, Anyway

LINDENWOLD, N.J. — A police officer was kidnaped almost two weeks ago, but his fellow patrolmen aren’t terribly worried, because the rookie cop was a dummy--a real dummy.

The missing officer is a life-size mannequin that--before its disappearance--spent on-duty hours propped up inside a parked police car wearing a brown wig and blue police uniform.

Police Chief Raymond Wilson said he arranged the deception as a way of slowing down speeders without tying up one of his patrol officers.

“The thing was very successful,” Wilson said. “It looked so real a woman stopped one day and walked up and asked directions.”

But when real officers checked on the patrol car on Aug. 30, they found the rookie’s pants, shirt, tie, hat and wig lying in the street. The dummy was missing and the driver’s window had been broken.

Police haven’t determined who stole the mannequin or why. Wilson said the town has put up new stop signs this summer in an effort to slow speeders and is considering replacing the dummy.