Impersonating a cop
A reporter knows he's been in this business too long when he can scoff at virtually every story by saying, "I wrote that ... "
Well, I guess I've been doing this too long. That was exact reaction whe I saw this item move across the AP wire:
CHICAGO - Police say an internal investigation found that seven Chicago officers broke department rules when a 14-year-old boy allegedly impersonated an officer for several hours. Superintendent Jody Weis is asking the U.S. Secret Service for an independent security review after the Jan. 24 breach. Weis discussed findings of the investigation Tuesday. Authorities say the boy wore a uniform and managing to get an assignment - patrolling in a squad car with another officer. He didn't have a gun, drive the car or make an arrest. The ruse was noticed several hours later because his uniform lacked a regulation star. The boy pleaded not guilty in juvenile court. He isn't in custody but must wear an electronic monitoring device.
Yep, I wrote about a similar, and I'd say better, case involving Baltimore police. A teen with no help from the cops stole a uniform and a car, walked by a desk officer who noticed the baggy shirt and pants but didn't bother to inquire, stole a car and patrolled the streets. He answered the radio and even responded to a call.
Here's a blast from the past, published in 1996:
A teen-ager in a police Scout program who apparently couldn't wait to join the force stole a squad car, radio and uniform and patrolled city streets for almost four hours early yesterday, stopping at crime scenes and waving to officers.
His disheveled shirt, baggy pants and boyish looks raised some eyebrows, but neither a suspicious officer nor a police security guard stopped him before he returned to a downtown station house and was arrested.
Police said the 16-year-old, who was not named because of his age, did not carry a gun or badge, but managed to escape detection despite briefly encountering at least six officers and talking to a dispatcher over the radio.
The joy ride has prompted an investigation into how the teen got into what is supposed to be a locked room -- where police uniforms and radios were stored -- despite rules that require Scouts to be escorted while in station houses.
The youth's actions could have endangered "the lives of any victim who may have approached him and expected professional assistance," said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., a police spokesman.
It is the second time this week that city police have been tricked by impostors.
On Tuesday, two men with fake police identification got into the headquarters building and obtained arrest warrants for a woman they had taken prisoner. They were charged later with kidnapping.
The suspect in yesterday's incident was arrested and charged as a juvenile with unauthorized use of a car, theft and impersonating a police officer.
And police said his days in the police Explorer program, a mentoring program for city youths, are over.
Sgt. Kirk Fleet, who runs the 15-member Central District Police Explorer program, said the teen is one of 15, ages 14 to 20, who help direct traffic, hand out crime-prevention literature and represent the department at neighborhood festivals.
Police said the teen, who had been an Explorer for two years and was well-known in the Central District station, walked by the front desk and into the operations room through an unlocked door, where he took police clothes and walked back to the lobby.
"I noted that he was wearing police uniform pants and a uniform shirt which was very wrinkled and too large for him," wrote Officer Ed Gray, who saw the youth before he hit the streets about 11:30 p.m.
The teen-ager "had no badge or ID plate on his uniform, nor did he have a gun belt or any other accessories," Gray wrote in his report. "I did notice a departmental radio in the defendant's hand, and I overheard him saying to the security guard on duty: 'Yeah, I'm working overtime.' "
Gray wrote that the youth "looked young to me and poorly uniformed. However, I assumed that he was a police officer."
Police said the youth, who has a valid drivers license, stole a marked police Geo Tracker, used by neighborhood service and foot-patrol officers. It has emergency lights and a siren.
Weinhold said the teen-ager cruised downtown and Westside streets and encountered other officers at least five times between midnight and 3 a.m. Three times, he drove by officers on routine patrol and waved.
At 2:30 a.m., he arrived at an alarm call in the 400 block of N. Charles St. and briefly stopped next to two officers, police said. A half-hour later, he went to Pennsylvania Avenue and Cumberland Street, where an officer was interviewing an assault victim.
Weinhold said the youth asked if everything was OK, "then drove off."
Once, Weinhold said, the teen-ager got on the police radio and asked the dispatcher for a "lateral" -- meaning he wanted permission to speak directly to another officer over the radio. He used an unrecognizable unit number and quickly told the dispatcher to "10-22" -- the proper way to say disregard the request.
At 3 a.m., the teen returned to Central District and was confronted by Gray, who said in his report that he and his lieutenant had been suspicious for a while. "We both felt certain that [the youth] was out playing police," he wrote.
