Kid Fools Cops, Goes On Police Patrol
Boy, 14, Patrols Chicago For 5 Hours Unnoticed

POSTED: 11:26 pm EST January 25, 2009
UPDATED: 11:28 pm EST January 25, 2009


CHICAGO -- Chicago police are trying to figure out how a 14-year-old boy duped them into thinking he was an officer.

The teenager walked into a police station Saturday and managed to get an assignment patrolling in a squad car for five hours before somebody figured out he's a kid.

Deputy Superintendent Daniel Dugan said the boy looks old for his age, and notes that he didn't have a gun, didn't issue any tickets and didn't drive the squad car. Officers only discovered the ruse after the boy's patrol with an actual officer ended and they noticed his uniform lacked a star that's part of the regulation uniform.

Police said they wouldn’t identify the boy because of his age and said he really had no "ill intent" and was motivated by wanting to be an officer.

Still, he's being charged as a juvenile with impersonating an officer.

The boy once took part in a Chicago program for youth interested in policing; which would have been familiar with some procedures, perhaps helping him blend in, a police spokeswoman said.


HE AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON OUR HPD CRIMINAL CADETS