COPTICAL ILLUSIONS

We were getting complaints that there weren't enough cops. Or they weren't patrolling like they should be. You never saw one. Must be asleep at the station house or dunking donuts at some fat factory. I wasn't true. We had, in fact, more uniformed officers than we really needed and they patrolled with regularity. But, when you live in a town with folks with lots of time on their hands, be prepared for nit-picky complaints. I wasn't quite sure how to correct the false perception.

Then, there was a story on the evening news, about how the police in Japan were using marked cars with dummies in them, dressed as cops, to slow traffic. They were relying on what's called the cop business the halo effect. The halo effect is what causes drivers to be on their best behavior for about 15 minutes after they see a police car. The Japanese figured out that the mere sight of the seemingly occupied car would slow traffic on speedways, and placed them, accordingly.

The concept is still in use. Many times the car you see parked in the median of a busy highway is empty or may have a dummy in it. There are those detractors who say that anytime you see a cop car there's a dummy in it. But they don't say it to our face.

Then there's the Sheriff's eye-in-the-sky thing you see parked sometimes in shopping center parking lots. The giant preying mantis-looking contraption may or may not be occupied, but what auto burglar or mugger is gonna risk finding out.

Howsumever, the Japanese thing got me thinking and I made one small change to the appearance of our marked cars. And, it wasn't a month until the accolades starting coming in about how much better our cops had been patrolling. You saw them everywhere.

How'd we do this? Our cars were marked with silver badge insignia on each front door. It was about 16 inches tall and you couldn't read the lettering  a few feet away. So, we added 10 inch letters down the side that read POLICE. Something you could see. And folks did, and the halo effect kicked in.

Just a few Coptical Illusions.