Merton Police have the purrfect method to cut crime in the borough with their new Police Cat initiative.

Police Cat Aaliyah joined the force today (April 1) as part of the team's new highly trained "Castables" division.

Amongst the new Police Cat (PC) responsibilities include returning one random show, catching a laser dot, and stakeout a suspect by sitting in a random cardboard box looking disdainfully around.

In a Facebook post welcoming their new colleague, Merton Police said: "Police Cat Aaliyah has been specifically trained to patrol back gardens to hunt purrpatrators and also as a lie detector to establish if a suspect is lion or not.

"We have hand picked the animals with the right cattitude and cathletic ability to perform the difficult task of joining the police service.

"Applicants needed to be of the right purrsuasion and have the pawsitive outlook needed to fill this arduous role."

Police Cats will work six hour shifts to accommodate 18 hours of sleep and three hour lunch breaks cats need.