How Police Scotland were put on Santa’s naughty list
WHEN a young police officer ‘arrested’ a Christmas elf and put the cuffs on him, it was meant to be a merry festive prank.
But the unfortunate village constable ended up on Santa’s dreaded naughty list and was left red-faced when he realised he did not have the key – and had to radio for back-up to release pub landlord Tim O’Sullivan.
It took more than an hour to get the handcuffs off the 46-year-old owner of the Craigdarroch Arms in Moniaive, Dumfriesshire, who was taking part in a community event as an errant elf who had run away from working for Santa.
Around 40 children and 30 adults played a game of ‘hunt the elf’ until they found Mr O’Sullivan, in full costume, enjoying a pizza in the local Italian restaurant.
‘Then the police arrived,’ he explained yesterday. ‘And the organiser shouted, “Shall we get the police to arrest the naughty elf and take him back to the North Pole?” And all the kids screamed, “Yes! Yes!” But as he put the handcuffs on, he said, “Oh, I hope I’ve got a key...” I thought that was a joke, and so did everybody else but, looking back, I can see the look on his face meant he didn’t know.
‘The officer put me in the police van, then started looking in all of his pockets.
‘He was on the radio, going, “Look. I’ve got a guy dressed as an elf who shouldn’t be locked up. He’s got handcuffs on and I don’t have a key”. He put the radio up to my mouth to confirm what was happening. I said, “You need to get down here, mate. It’s not a joke”. He said, “If this is a wind-up, I’ll have you”.’
Confirming the incident, a Police Scotland spokesman said last night: ‘At the request of the community, a local officer took part in this annual event which involved handcuffing a member of the public dressed as an elf.
‘Unfortunately, on this occasion the officer did not have the key with him to release the man. However, he was able to get assistance from one of the local community police officers who was in a nearby village and the man was released. There was no impact to local policing.’