Constable chases own shadow on CCTV prompting

London - An undercover policeman chased himself through a British town for over 20 minutes after a CCTV operator reported him as a suspect.

The police officer was staking out an area in Sussex when he was radioed about someone "acting suspiciously" in the same area, reported the Daily Mail.

The CCTV operator gave directions to the policeman who set off in right earnest.

The policeman was told that he was "hot on heels" of the suspect, little realising that the person the CCTV operator was watching on camera was the plain-clothed officer himself.

The chase continued for about 20 minutes when another officer came to the CCTV control room and promptly recognised the "suspect" as a member of his team.

The incident was revealed in police federation magazine Police by a senior officer.

"...officers were on plain-clothed foot patrol when a report was received of a suspect male in one of the side roads," the magazien said.

"The CCTV operator soon had the suspect on camera and everywhere he saw the male, the keen PC was on his heels, radioing in to say he was in the same street."

"Every time the man darted in to another side alleyway, the PC was turning immediately into the same alleyway - but every time the CCTV operator asked what he could see, there was no trace," the magazine quoted the officer as saying.

The magazine added: "With the sergeant's sides aching from laughter, he pointed out to the PC that the operator had been watching him unaware that he was a plain-clothes officer - thus the PC had been chasing himself round the streets."