'Const. Scarecrow' proving effective for Coquitlam RCMP but falling victim to vandals

It's fair to say his personality is on the two-dimensional side, but Coquitlam RCMP's new recruit, Const. Scarecrow, has a promising future with the force.

The life-sized cut-out of a traffic enforcement officer has been deployed for a couple months in various locations around Coquitlam. According to data from the pilot project, Scarecrow's presence is cutting the number of drivers travelling more than 10 km/h over the speed limit in half. 

The number of excessive speeders driving faster than 30 km/h over the limit has been reduced by even more — 70 per cent, according to Cpl. Michael McLaughlin.

"As far as we're concerned, he's more than earned a one year contract extension," said McLaughlin on Tuesday, adding that it's a pretty cheap way to adjust driving habits, with each unit costing between $300 and $400.

Despite the positive performance review, there has been one obvious issue with leaving unsupervised life-sized fake police officers on the streets — vandals.

The Const. Scarecrow currently deployed on Mariner Way in Coquitlam is version 3.0. It would appear the less sturdy  versions were quickly damaged.

"We did have damage to one of our first Const. Scarecrows," said McLaughlin. "[Version 3.0] has got heavier gauge steel. He's got heavier bolts to secure him in place. He's also got reflective tape that makes his uniform more realistic, and also makes him a little bit safer, we think."

McLaughlin said it's possible drivers will get familiar with the fake cop, and its effectiveness could decrease. But the plan is to use multiple units, take new photographs of RCMP officers to turn into different cut-outs and support the dummy with actual officers pulling drivers over and handing out tickets.

"There are all sorts of possibilities with Const. Scarecrow. We're certainly aware that as people get more used to him, their speed might increase again. That's why we've got to be reactive," he said.

"We've got to make sure we don't oversaturate with Const. Scarecrow. But we basically have to wait and see what the data shows," said McLaughin, adding that, surprisingly, in a two-week stint in any location, the cut-out's results don't appear to dwindle.

The detachment is rotating the location in three-week periods to study the results. Using a BlackCat speed-monitoring system, a week's worth of data without the cut-out can be compared to two weeks with Const. Scarecrow in place.

McLaughlin said the Coquitlam detachment is discussing the project with RCMP E Division and any detachments that express interest are welcome to their pilot project data.

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