Star-struck cops love a celebrity bust

COCAINE KATE IN POLICE DEAL screams a headline over a story packed with "inside" information about where and how the police intend to question the model Kate Moss over allegations that she snorted cocaine.

No detail is spared: Moss will fly in a "private jet" from Paris to be interviewed by "senior officers".

It is an everyday story: a celeb is suspected of an offence and the cops move in, licking their lips. We, the paying punters, lap it up or ignore it, according to taste, seldom troubling ourselves as to why the police like to collar high-profile folk or how the press find out.

A bobby will generally choose interviewing a supermodel over getting on with the paperwork. It was ever thus: remember Rolling Stones under arrest for cannabis smoking, and, more recently, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend

Kudos and tabloid pay-offs lure police to bring down the famous, writes robert chesshyre

cautioned for viewing pornography on-line. And, of course, a front page splash of well-known people on their way to help with inquiries makes the force look good (and democratic) and detracts attention from (to take an example at random) a botched shooting of an innocent man.

And there is big money to be made by police for lifting the receiver and whispering a few words to a friendly reporter. I was in a police station when a woman MP - known under her maiden name - was stopped for speeding. Officers, sure they had a well-known person in the bag, pulled down Who’s Who and checked the MP's married name and date of birth. Bingo! And a quick phone call went to a paper.

In that case, the tip was worth what is known in the trade as a "drink". The cop who spots a rock star in the cells can plan for a fortnight in Spain.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 31