Instead of hitting the streets, cops are being paid to patrol an NYPD locker room.

Police Department brass recently assigned an around-the-clock security detail to the locker room of the Ninth Precinct station house in the East Village, where at least four 9mm handguns, an iPad and even bulletproof vests have been stolen since February, sources told The Post.

“The city is worried about keeping crime down on the streets, but they can’t even control it in their own precincts,” one source fumed.

“The precinct has created a semi-permanent post in the locker room where the guns had gone missing. So rather than having cops patrol the streets, they are now patrolling their own locker rooms. It’s really absurd.”

Two patrol cops and one sergeant have now been assigned to “locker-room duty” for every shift at the Ninth Precinct at 321 E. 5th St., where they monitor the log book and keep an eye on fellow officers’ lockers after the embarrassing thefts.

The nine cops used per day are generally not being paid overtime, but additional OT could pile up from the move as supervisors juggle manpower, sources said.

The brass also beefed up security for the lockers themselves, adding a second lock to each one after the 10 to 12 thefts were discovered, including the most recent April 22, when one of the guns was stolen.

Previously, lockers had one combination lock — and many were broken and could be easily opened by just banging on the door, the sources said.

For privacy reasons, there are no surveillance cameras inside the seventh-floor locker room, though one was recently installed monitoring its entrance.

The Post first reported late last month that the 9mm semiautomatics had vanished from officers’ lockers. One of the guns was recovered in New Jersey, a source said, though no details were available on how.

Internal Affairs investigators were on the case since the first gun theft was reported in February, but the heists continued.

Night-shift officers were the main victims of the spree because there are fewer people in the precinct house when they’re on duty, sources said.

Cops suspect an inside job because the room is inaccessible to anyone walking in off the street.

About 180 people work in the precinct, including police officers, detectives, supervisors and non-uniform NYPD employees.

When the first two officers reported their guns missing, they were grilled by IAB investigators, who initially suspected the cops had lost the weapons and were just trying to cover up their carelessness.