Chicago teen poses as LEO for 5 hours.

[Jamesnns1]

A 14 year old teen posed as a Chicago LEO yesterday. He arrived wearing an offficial Chicago Police uniform. He was given a radio and a "ticket book." He was then assigned to street patrol for the day.

The Chicago police department caught on 5 hours later.
He has been charged with impersonating and officer.

He had previousley(sp) gon on a 'ride-along.' And he had an interest in law enforcment as a career.

The news stated he did NOT have a gun.

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere.

[ray8285]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!! I understand CPD is a huge organization but I would think the desk sergreant or whoever hands out radios would know who they work with!!!

[Jamesnns1]

Last nights News;
Apparantly this is his 3rd time doing this.
He was not carrying a badge or gun.
Now he's up on federal charges.

[DaLAW]

They should hire the kid and fire the other officers who didn't realize he was 14. Wtf?

[Jamesnns1]

Apparantly there is now more to this story, but sadly, I fell alseep too early last night.

?? Anybody know?

[Columbus]

Apparantly there is now more to this story, but sadly, I fell alseep too early last night.

?? Anybody know?

No idea, but please post it when/if you find out.

[Jamesnns1]

Here it is...
- A 14-year-old boy accused of impersonating a police officer and going on patrol has pleaded not guilty.
The teenager appeared in a juvenile courtroom on Monday 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. He partnered with another officer for about five hours.
Assistant Superintendent James Jackson said the ruse was discovered only after the boy's patrol ended. Officers noticed his uniform lacked a star that is part of the regulation uniform.
Police say the boy did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the squad car.
The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins says the boy had lived with him for much of the past year and is fascinated by police work.

[Jamesnns1]

More.
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.