Light-fingered police keep pickpockets out of the market

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Pc Hazel Taylor, 39, and Pc Lee Carroll, 34, made six small laminated cards from a sheet of A4 paper which warn against pickpockets.

They "reverse pickpocketed" people by placing the cards inside handbags or shopping bags left open at Church Street Market. The two Pcs, from one of Hammersmith's Safer Neighbourhoods teams, then asked the unsuspecting shoppers if they would mind checking their bag. When the card is found by the "victim", the normal reaction is one of shock and then relief that they have not, in fact, been ripped off.

Pc Carroll said: "Ninety-nine per cent of the reactions are good. Sometimes people even apologise to us for leaving their purses so accessible."

Pc Taylor added: "I always look not just for people committing crimes, but also for victims and potential victims. Many people have an 'it won't happen to me' attitude and I came up with the cards as a way of showing them it could."

Trader Bekin Gashi said he had noticed a reduction in thefts since the scheme began last December. Sergeant Ian Rowing, head of the team, said: "The best ideas are simple ones."