CCTV blunder sends UK cop chasing himself

A junior British police officer thought he was hot on the heels of a 'criminal' for 20 minutes before it was revealed he was chasing himself.

The unnamed plain-clothes cop was patrolling a Sussex town centre prone to break-ins when he was alerted to a man spotted on CCTV 'acting suspiciously', the UK’s Daily Telegraph reports.

A CCTV operator told the junior officer he was 'hot on the heels' of the suspect and radioed that they were in the same street.

But every time the suspect was seen on CCTV darting down an alley, the officer marveled that he was nowhere to be seen.

The chase continued for 20 minutes before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room and recognised the 'suspect' as the junior officer, and immediately burst into a fit of laughter.

The operational blunder came to light after details were leaked to an industry magazine.

"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 @mdash; thus the PC had been chasing himself round the streets," an unnamed officer was quoted by the Daily Telegraph.

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