Police force could be the first to use constabulary cats after girl wrote to her local police force

Little Eliza Adamson-Hopper, aged five, asked the question cat lovers across the UK have always wanted to ask police forces: 'Why don't you use moggies on the beat?' She received a reply from the Chief Constable Michael Barton of Durham Police, a self-confessed cat lover, praising her "good idea" and even drawing her a picture of his own cat Joey. In the letter Eliza, of County Durham, Tyne and Wear, drew a picture of a policewoman, dog and cat, wrote: "I wondered why you don't use cats as well as dogs?" Eliza's mum, social worker Cheryl Adamson, 33, said: "Eliza always has great ideas and questions, and I agree with her - cats should get jobs in the police force too. "It was a bit of a shock to get a hand-written reply - but not surprising.