British cops are officially way more awesome than any of their international counterparts today, thanks to a new experiment being conducted in an upscale London neighborhood.

In an effort to teach people not to leave valuable items in their cars, police officers will be wandering the streets looking for stuff to steal. If you don't have your doors locked, the cops will take your stuff. Because they're cops, they'll also be kind enough to leave a note explaining what happened, but the point is to teach people to be more responsible.


"The message to car owners is: 'Help us to help you,'" said Richmond Police Chief Inspector Duncan Slade in a statement.

So far the cops have only committed one robbery, while a couple dozen other potential capers were foiled when the car owners showed up.

In theory the idea seems both awesome and hilarious. But if we were wily thieves hearing of this public campaign, we'd just start leaving notes blaming the police when we stole stuff.