A TACTIC borrowed from an episode in Ancient Greek mythology helped police take on and win a battle against a plague of modern Britain.
Taking inspiration from the Trojan Horse that helped the Greeks enter Troy after a decade of deadlock, officers in the Welsh capital came up with a disguise that allowed them to slip undetected into territory occupied by street thugs.
But instead of a wooden horse, the officers hid inside a bendy bus.
They borrowed the 60ft bus and a driver from Cardiff Bus in a last-ditch attempt to catch yobs whose stone-throwing attacks on services in the Ely area of the city had become so frequent the company was on the verge of pulling out of the area.
Half a dozen uniformed officers donned casual jackets to look like ordinary passengers and, together with a dog handler and police dog, boarded the bus on Thursday evening.
Chief Inspector Alun Morgan, who came up with the plan, said the idea was to draw the youths out so they could be caught. During the big freeze, several had begun throwing snowballs at the buses before switched to harder missiles, including stones, when the snow melted.
Ch Insp Morgan said: “It looked just like an ordinary service bus and when it got into Ely, it came under attack from 19 youths.”
But this time officers stopped the bus – now dubbed the “Trojan Bus” – and gave chase. Just as the youths were about to disperse, the dog handler warned he would release his animal if they did not stand still. So they did.
Two youths were arrested and taken into custody and 17 have been referred for anti-social behaviour orders. [etc.[
via Police use Trojan tactic to catch troublemakers | Western Mail.
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