Obiter was amused last year by reports that some bobbies in the south-west had caused a stir by climbing through the open windows of houses, placing valuable items on show into a paper ‘swag bag’, and then leaving what must have been a remarkably irritating leaflet pointing out to homeowners that they had not taken adequate steps to protect their house from theft.

The move may have seemed over the top, but Obiter now wonders whether these enthusiastic crime-stoppers ought to pay a similar visit to the Ministry of Justice, given the remarkable rate at which computer equipment is apparently disappearing from the department.

In a recent exchange in the House of Commons, justice minister Crispin Blunt admitted that in the last year alone more than 40 PCs and 14 laptops have been lost or gone walkies from inside MoJ buildings, as well as 12 BlackBerrys and 41 computer dongles. Outside the buildings, 40 laptops, 53 BlackBerrys and one PC were stolen or lost.

But don’t worry taxpayers, because the MoJ takes security ‘very seriously’. A spokesman told the Gazette: ‘All our laptops and BlackBerrys are securely encrypted, protected with a complex password, and blocked remotely if reported lost or stolen.

'We are constantly looking for ways to improve risk control, and apply a robust security management system… We are one of the largest government departments with over 80,000 staff employed across courts, prisons and the probation service - it’s therefore likely that our losses and thefts may be higher than other departments.’

Sounds like the boys in blue had better dig out those crime-prevention leaflets.