Where did all the beat bobbies go? They’re all off Zumba dancing!

With violent crime soaring, you would expect police to be chasing crooks.

But these six officers decided to stretch out the long arms of the law in a carnival dance routine instead. The three male and three female officers took part in a Zumba session in front of crowds.

Zumba instructor Lisa Malesa praised the officers for getting stuck in – but members of the public were less impressed.

one critic wrote online: ‘No wonder you can never get a cop when you want one. They’re poncing about at carnivals.’ Another added: ‘Fantastic! They won’t come round if your house is burgled, but can behave like prats. No wonder police have lost the confidence of the public.’

The officers larked around at the carnival in prestatyn, North Wales – a region which has more killings per head of the population than London. police across the Uk have previously been criticised for concentrating on ‘silly stunts and gimmicks’ instead of investigating crimes. They were slammed for garishly painting their nails, posing for photos in bumper cars and stroking puppies for stress relief.

others posed in bear masks while drug squad officers insisted on asking cannabis growers if they were victims of slavery.

Figures published last week revealed that hundreds of thousands of criminals – including burglars and rapists – were escaping justice because police were charging suspects in just one in ten reported crimes in 2017.

At the same time the number of violent street robberies reported in england and Wales rose by nearly a third, while the number of killings jumped by 12 per cent.

Inspector Arwyn Jones, of North Wales police, said of the prestatyn dance: ‘ The officers, many of whom were specials and who were at the event anyway, took just a few minutes out of the day to join in the carnival fun.

‘The overwhelming response from the community was fantastic There was no impact on the response to other areas of policing during the event.’