Cardboard Crime Fighter : Sheriff’s deputies use two-dimensional dummy for duty at store and put decoys in cars. To the surprise of some, they do the trick.

He’s tall. He’s imposing. And he fights crime.

But don’t expect to see Sgt. Kelly Matthews outside during a storm: rain makes him soggy.

So, in a valiant rescue effort Tuesday, City of Industry sheriff’s deputies climbed a narrow steel ladder to the roof of the city’s new Wal-Mart store, grabbed Matthews and saved the paper and plywood sergeant from impending rain.

The deputies put Cardboard Kelly in the trunk of a patrol car and drove him off to safety, marking the first time the two-dimensional law enforcement officer has been off duty since he was assigned to his post in early January.

At a time when “police are becoming a rare commodity,” Lt. Thomas O’Brien said, he must rely on his imagination to find ways in which the sheriff’s Industry substation can decrease crime without increasing staff.

When O’Brien hit on the idea of decoys late last year, the station immediately placed mannequins and inoperative patrol cars in prime crime locations. The decoys worked: on the roads, deputies reported that speeding motorists would slow down when they saw the parked patrol cars. Even O’Brien said he checked his own speedometer after spotting one of the dummy officers.

And because they work cheap and don’t complain, the dummy patrol is expanding.

Last month, the 230 human deputies welcomed the blown-up photo of Industry’s Sgt. Matthews as a new recruit. The larger-than-life image (the real Matthews is two inches shorter than the 6-foot photo) stands diligently atop Wal-Mart’s roof, manning--as it were--the parking lot. A clunky 1992 patrol car with poorly hidden bullet holes is parked directly below him.

The car-and-photo team was assigned to its post less than a week after Wal-Mart opened Dec. 30, which was almost too long to wait. In the short time between the store’s grand opening and Matthew’s grand entrance, sheriff’s deputies responded to calls for one car theft, one attempted car theft and one grand theft in the parking lot.

Since Cardboard Kelly has been on duty, only a single incident of shoplifting was been reported at the store, said Sgt. Tim Murakami.

It may be hard to fathom how a photograph--even a really good photograph taken at the sheriff’s crime lab in downtown Los Angeles and mounted on $50 worth of plywood--could possibly deter thieves.

But it does.

From the entrance of the parking lot, Cardboard Kelly looks real. Thieves would have to get very close to see whether it is a decoy, and at that proximity, they should hope that it is.

“Most criminals are not going to stare at a police officer,” Murakami said. “They’ll glance at the roof and leave.”

And because “most crooks don’t read the newspaper,” Murakami said the department is not worried about publicity. Even if the bad guys do catch on to the facade, the cops have another trick up their sleeves.

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“It’s not always a facsimile,” Murakami said. “Sometimes you’ll go, and it’ll be an officer. So it is like a shell game.”

O’Brien recalls being “a laughingstock” when he proposed the use of decoys. Even the real Sgt. Matthews said he thought the idea was strange.

But “that laughter turned to accolades when they saw that it was working,” O’Brien said. “Guys who were laughing at it before are now saying, ‘Well, if you do another one, can you use me?”

Still, Cardboard Kelly has brought the shy Matthews a little grief: O’Brien has a copy of the cutout in his office and the other deputies have taken to dressing him up. The latest costume, Matthews said, was a Superman cape.

At any rate, Paper Boy is the real hero at Wal-Mart.

“He’s my friend,” said Marva Marshall, who works in the accounting department. “The other day, I went out there and put a jacket on him. It was getting damp out; I was so worried about him.”