Last Child
01-26-2009, 02:37 PM
This is hilarious. Pretty embarrassing for this particular police station though. :haha:
A 14-year-old boy accused of impersonating a police officer and going onpatrol for five hours has pleaded not guilty, CBS station WBBM-TV reports.
The teenager appeared in a Chicago juvenile courtroom on Monday in a purple sweater with his hands cuffed behind his back.
A judge ordered that he be held at the juvenile center because he could pose a danger to himself.
On Saturday the teen, wearing an officer's uniform, walked into a police station and was assigned to go on patrol in a squad car. Police say he did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the car.
The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins said, until recently, the boy lived with him for nearly a year. Watkins says the teen is fascinated with everything to do with police work and that his favorite television shows are police dramas.
On Sunday, CBS 2's Pamela Jones reported that the teen actually passed for an officer for a while - working five hours of a shift.
He apparently signed out a police radio and ticket book at the Grand Crossing District police station at 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Police say he rode around with an officer for hours before anyone knew something was up.
It turns out the boy had been a "police explorer" and had participated in a program that allows kids to shadow real officers.
So police say he knew something about the lingo - and the procedures officers use.
Chicago Police held a press conference Sunday afternoon assuring the public that they're investigating how this happened and what procedures they may need to change. They acknowledge this is a serious security breech.
Police say the 14-year-old had everything he'd need on the uniform except the star and a weapon. They believe he just wanted to be a real officer and did not intend to do any harm.
"This individual has identified egregious breech in security," said Deputy Superintendent Dan Dugan. "Realistically, to open that up to a media scrutiny, while I can understand and appreciate it, I have probably as many questions if not more than you have relative to this. It would tend to exacerbate the security issue that has been identified and we would not want to exploit it for the safety of the officers that work in facilities throughout the city."
Police say the boy was assigned to an officer in the traffic division, but did not write any tickets or have contact with the public.
When the teen returned to the station to go over paperwork, a sergeant noticed the teen was missing the police star - and when pressed with questions, the boy couldn't come up with good answers.
CBS 2 was told the uniform usually gets checked in roll call. But there's no roll call for that particular traffic shift, and we were told that is one of the things that is likely to change after this incident.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A 14-year-old boy accused of impersonating a police officer and going onpatrol for five hours has pleaded not guilty, CBS station WBBM-TV reports.
The teenager appeared in a Chicago juvenile courtroom on Monday in a purple sweater with his hands cuffed behind his back.
A judge ordered that he be held at the juvenile center because he could pose a danger to himself.
On Saturday the teen, wearing an officer's uniform, walked into a police station and was assigned to go on patrol in a squad car. Police say he did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the car.
The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins said, until recently, the boy lived with him for nearly a year. Watkins says the teen is fascinated with everything to do with police work and that his favorite television shows are police dramas.
On Sunday, CBS 2's Pamela Jones reported that the teen actually passed for an officer for a while - working five hours of a shift.
He apparently signed out a police radio and ticket book at the Grand Crossing District police station at 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Police say he rode around with an officer for hours before anyone knew something was up.
It turns out the boy had been a "police explorer" and had participated in a program that allows kids to shadow real officers.
So police say he knew something about the lingo - and the procedures officers use.
Chicago Police held a press conference Sunday afternoon assuring the public that they're investigating how this happened and what procedures they may need to change. They acknowledge this is a serious security breech.
Police say the 14-year-old had everything he'd need on the uniform except the star and a weapon. They believe he just wanted to be a real officer and did not intend to do any harm.
"This individual has identified egregious breech in security," said Deputy Superintendent Dan Dugan. "Realistically, to open that up to a media scrutiny, while I can understand and appreciate it, I have probably as many questions if not more than you have relative to this. It would tend to exacerbate the security issue that has been identified and we would not want to exploit it for the safety of the officers that work in facilities throughout the city."
Police say the boy was assigned to an officer in the traffic division, but did not write any tickets or have contact with the public.
When the teen returned to the station to go over paperwork, a sergeant noticed the teen was missing the police star - and when pressed with questions, the boy couldn't come up with good answers.
CBS 2 was told the uniform usually gets checked in roll call. But there's no roll call for that particular traffic shift, and we were told that is one of the things that is likely to change after this incident.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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