Why Did the Policeman Cross the Road‪?‬

Can lollipops reduce
antisocial behaviour? Could wizards prevent street gambling? Do fake bus stops
protect pensioners? Can dog shows help reduce murder rates?

Stevyn Colgan spent
thirty years in the police service—twelve of them as part of the Problem
Solving Unit, a special team with an extraordinary brief: to solve problems of
crime and disorder that were unresponsive to traditional policing.

They could try
anything as long as it wasn’t illegal (or immoral), wouldn’t bring the police
into disrepute, and didn’t cost very much. The result is this extraordinary
collection of innovative and imaginative approaches to crime prevention,
showing us that any problem can be solved if we can just identify its
underlying roots.

In Why Did the Policeman Cross the Road? you’ll
learn how bees can prevent elephant stampedes and what tiger farms and sex
workers have in common. You’ll read about killer snakes in African cornfields
and cholera epidemics in Soho. You’ll come to appreciate the advantages of
sticking gum on celebrities’ faces, why the colour of the changing room might
decide a football match, and how eating lobsters may help to save their lives.

This book is an
amusing, insightful and sometimes controversial celebration of good policing
and problem solving that reaches beyond law enforcement and into everyday life.