back to article Brave copper single-handedly chases 'suspicious' Moon

A Worcestershire copper is apparently taking some serious stick from his fellow officers after heading off into the Clent Hills to investigate a "suspicious bright light" which turned out to be nothing more sinister than the Moon. According to Police Magazine, the "single-crewed" officer radioed his sergeant to alert him of …

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  1. Richard Wharram
    Coffee/keyboard

    Classic

    Evenin' all.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Pleb??

      Too soon?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pleb??

        We demand that you resign from whatever job it is that you do. We will not tolerate such harsh language being used against our fine, brave officers.

        Kind regards, the Police.

  2. Reading Your E-mail
    Joke

    but, but.....

    It looked like the Dunkin' Donut logo!!!!

    1. Hieronymus Howerd

      Re: but, but.....

      Doesn't really work in the context of a UK copper.

      1. wowfood

        Re: but, but.....

        Maybe a bacon sandwich then?

        1. Shades

          Re: but, but.....

          "Maybe a bacon sandwich then?"

          But that would be cannibalism!

        2. jake Silver badge
          Pint

          @wowfood (was: Re: but, but.....)

          That's pronounced "sarnie", you left-pondian twit![1]

          [1] Don't take that too badly, I'm left-pondian myself. Beers all 'round, regardless :-)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a bad excuse for an evenings dogging I suppose.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not a bad excuse for an evenings dogging I suppose

      Or half hour off his beat watching whilst beating his truncheon then he gets to handcuff some scantily clad lady. It's almost an advert for police recruitment..

    2. proto-robbie
      Pirate

      Three wolves, one moon?

  4. Harry
    Happy

    So, how do you feel?

    "I'm Over the Moon", maybe ?

  5. Steve Crook

    I'm sure there's

    a stop and search joke there somewhere...

  6. John H Woods Silver badge

    Hasn't been on the force long...

    ... or he'd remember this:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7489457.stm

    1. wowfood

      Re: Hasn't been on the force long...

      Makes me wish they'd start handing out fines to nuisance / prank calls to the emergency services.

      "Hello there's a large stationary object floating in the sky"

      "It's the moon, you owe us £500"

      "What? What for?"

      "Wasting our time and taxpaye money, now will that be cash or credit"

      1. Trokair 1
        Alert

        Re: Hasn't been on the force long...

        @wowfood - You guys don't have that? On the left side of the pond it is a serious offense to prank call emergency services. You will end up in a cell for at least one night, possibly more.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Wasting police / emergency services time

          Yes, we do have that.

  7. Code Monkey
    FAIL

    Sheesh

    And to think that some people say coppers are thick.

    1. frank ly

      Re: Sheesh

      To be fair, although Worcestershire is a rural area, the copper may have been a young townie. They often get confused in rural areas at night, when they see lots of stars in the sky and the moon shining through trees.

      1. Some Call Me Tim
        Paris Hilton

        Oh Ahhh

        I don't know why we're taking the mickey out of poor PC plod who at least turned up to investigative and not the yokel village idiot who rang them up in the first place!

        Do you think they got another call reporting a man in a silly hat with torch chasing after the moon?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sheesh

        Get him Google Sky Map, it'll save him some trouble and explain the other shining balls up in the sky.

        Might not help much finding the dogging or drugs busts tho :P

    2. JohnG

      The Young Ones: POLICE IQ SHOCKER

      POLICEMAN #2: [chuckles] That's a laugh, eh? Ain't it?

      POLICEMAN #1: What?

      POLICEMAN #2: That sound you make in the back of your throat when you hear a joke.

      POLICEMAN #1: Yeah, that's a laugh.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

    I take it you mean West Mercia, being as there is no such thing as the Worcestershire police force.

    1. Shades

      Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

      I took it to mean the "force covering Worcestershire". Which to me is sensible as, given the global nature of the Internet, West Mercia would probably mean even less than Worcestershire to many people.

      (Besides which, I think West Mercia sounds like something from Lord of the Rings lol)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

        think West Mercia sounds like something from Lord of the Rings

        Well what with much of the Lord of the Rings being based around what became Birmingham (Sarehole Mill, the Two Towers, Moseley Bog) and surrounding areas, hardly surprising is it ?

        1. Shades
          Happy

          Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

          I actually didn't know that. Then again not really a fan of LOTR, watched the films, don't really remember all that much. Today I've actually learnt something from the El Reg comments section! My flabber has been ghasted! :)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

            I believe JRRT came from the West Midlands and most of his epic non academic work were essentially the repackaging of local myths that he collected as a bit of a hobby so Middle Earth could be re read as West Mercia.

            in real history, Mercia was one of the Saxon kingdoms that this country was divided up into before Radewald (?) united them under one crown.

            AC because I don't want to admit that I have read the prologue to a very large book.

            Original story is one to laugh about as well.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

          Well, West Mercia = the West Mark

          Down the southern end of the county, there's a village called Buckland, and Tolkien's aunt lived a few miles in the other direction in Dormston down a cul-de-sac lane called Bag End...

        3. Ed_UK

          Re: ....for the Worcestershire force in discovering Earth's satellite.....

          "Sarehole Mill"

          Just wondering if anyone, anywhere has ever mis-typed that name, accidentally or otherwise...

  9. Thomas 4
    Thumb Up

    What does he have to be ashamed about?

    He wasn't slapping cuffs on some pre-pubescent lad on the sauce or sitting in the office doing paperwork - he was trying to *arrest the fucking MOON*. If you're going to nick someone, think big!

    1. Lee Dowling Silver badge

      Re: What does he have to be ashamed about?

      The charge of "Maliciously interfering with the tide" might be a hard one to make stick, though.

      And the only other thing they've got is a nuisance charge for all that light it throws this way.

  10. Pete 2 Silver badge

    The real question is

    ... did the Moon call him a pleb?

  11. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    Calling Sgt. Angua

    Mine is the one with "The Fifth Elephant" in the pocket

  12. Peter Storm
    Coat

    Brave copper single-handedly chases 'suspicious' Moon

    That's no moon! oh, hang on...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Outdoor sex hotspot

    Teenage copper finds excuse to loiter around outdoor sex hotspot "just looking" when he should be working....

    Beware: they might start by peering through your net curtains with their CCTV cameras, but it will inevitably lead on to much worse.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Outdoor sex hotspot

      Actually, that was what really stood out from the article for me.

      Officer chases what he thinks may be "headlights" and calls for back-up.

      Because headlights are *so* illegal aren't they?

  14. Stevie

    Bah!

    *Shrug* Same mistake is made all the time by pilots and people paid to take notice of the sky. Over the years I've seen some pretty freaky stuff that had me damn near in need of new underwear despite my "knowing" it was just weather or some other mundane stuff. A storm that took out radio communications and left me wondering if the glow in the distance was not a thunderstorm of epic proportions behind abnormally low cloud on a hidden rise in the land, but something less innocent and more man-made. Planes that hovered stationary in the air on the approach to Newark Airport for the duration of a three minute drive. "Highway hipnosis" that lost me the memory of a trip from Newmarket to Thetford one dark evening, just me, my sealed beams, the bright white dotted line and the cat's eyes to witness it.

    At least he isn't trying to claim crop circles are made by someone other than a bunch of drunks with a plank and a piece of rope.

    1. Psyx
      Happy

      Re: Bah!

      "...lost me the memory of a trip from Newmarket to Thetford..."

      Did you at least get the bonus of forgetting the Thetford part, too?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bah!

      I dont know anyone that willingly wants to remember a trip from Newmarket to Thetford

      Like going from one big pikey camp to another

      1. Stevie

        Re: Bah!

        Well in all fairness I must say that normally I enjoyed that drive in 1979, which had not had three upcoming generations of Yoofs to ruin it like they have the rest of England. Oh Thetford, we weep for thy lost beauty, and the majesty of thine Thermos plant thrust into the skyline to keep warm the dignity of the nation.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bah!

      I remember watching a mushroom cloud rise over the Irish Sea from the general direction of Liverpool, at about 2AM one morning about 30 years ago, from the foothills of Wicklow. It was a worrying 10 minutes or so before it became obvious that it was the moon and it's reflection.

      Because the location and timing of moonrise varies, most people don't know where to expect to see the moon, whereas most people can tell you where the sun sets each evening.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bah!

        Did it get your hopes up? ;)

    4. jake Silver badge

      @Stevie (was: Re: Bah!)

      One dark evening, I was driving to my Parent's place in Palo Alto, had been on the road for about 6 hours. Off the 280 freeway at Pagemill Road, under Alma, right on Middlefield, drive for a bit, through Midtown. Familiar, familiar, famillar. Turn off Middlefield, onto another street and then immediately take another turn. Stop at the stop sign, again all's familiar. I'm nearly to my childhood home. Road banks to the left ... and all of a sudden I was lost. A few trees/bushes/hedges were gone, a new[1] house on the corner, and Xmas lights had totally transformed what I was expecting. Brain said "this is completely wrong, WTF???" ... Logic said "keep driving, you're in the right place." I arrived, two and a half blocks later, in time for dinner :-)

      [1] Rebuilt/updated actually ... Cheaper that way.

      1. h4rm0ny

        Re: @Stevie (was: Bah!)

        I'm curious who downvotes a post like this. They tell a basic, personal story that makes sense and isn't really off-topic, and a couple of people downvote. What are they actually objecting to? Do they dislike people from Palo Alto? Are they offended by the highlighting of the fallibility of the human brain? Did the reference to trees and hedges being cut down touch a nerve in their envrio-consciousness? Why?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @Stevie (was: Bah!)

        Well, I liked it. I get fooled by daytime vs. nighttime occasionally as well as changes to layouts.

  15. Steve Evans

    I'm sure....

    I'm sure the moon's continual motion has been accepted as resisting arrest, and a warrant issued.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually

    I'm sure that mooning at a copper has always been an offence.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He saw a UFO and realised it was just a donut.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I suppose it would be a good bust to go on, if it were dogging, especially if you were, say, morally strait-laced or a bit religious.... and no chance of getting shot at... well, not guns anyway...... :P

  19. ShadowDragon8685

    Well, it's better to investigate and find out it's nothing (or nothing harmless) than to fail to investigate only for it to come to light later that it was something harmful.

    Still, if I were him, I'd invest in some novelty silver bullets to put in my locker. If they're going to rib him about werewolves anyway, may as well join in the laughter.

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