It seems a deterrent to criminals became their target instead. The Austrian Times reports:
Thieves walked off with a life-sized statue of a policeman used to deter crooks at a shopping centre in Limburg, Germany.
The model – showing an officer about to pull his gun – was supposed to make thieves think twice before chancing their arm.
But crooks copped the 80lb statue as a trophy to show off their skills, say police.
“They clearly weren’t fooled by it. We’ve got a real one down there now,” said one officer.
A case of shutting the stable shopping-center door after the horse statue has gone?
Peter
Too bad none of the bad guys had any art training: I'd have loved to have seen the cop statue replaced with a thief statue, heh.