Kid Undercover; Chicago Cops Clueless

If a 14 year-old shows up as a Chicago police station wearing a police-like uniform shouldn't someone notice he's not a real cop? Apparently not. Should the kid be the one in trouble? Apparently so.

Such was the case two Saturdays ago when a boy walked into the station wearing what resembled an officer's uniform. He was told to go to the patrol room and then assigned to man a patrol car with another officer. The boy willingly obliged and spent the next five hours securing the city's streets, then returned to the station. Only back in the squad room, after five hours on the job, did officers realize that the boy's uniform wasn't legit: the star featured by regulation uniforms was missing.

The Chicago PD bumbled any coherent explanation for how the boy went undetected so long. Saying only that he looked older than 14 and had once taken part in a youth program sponsored by the department that would've familiarized him with some of the procedures.

Aren't these cops trained to detect crime? To look for things that appear amiss? Not only was the kid not wearing a department issue uniform, he wasn't even carrying a guy. Why wouldn't the partner he spent five hours with notice a missing gun or the fact that they were wearing different uniforms or that he'd never seen the kid before? I'm glad I don't live in Chicago.

Police chase man who circles back, steals police car

When a police officer spotted two suspected burglars early this morning, he gave chase. Leaving behind his unlocked police cruiser. While the officer continued pursuing the suspects through the darkness, he became a crime victim himself. Exhausted after the unsuccessful chase the officer trotted back to his vehicle, as he approached one of the two men he'd been pursuing jumped into the driver's seat and sped past the reasonably dejected officer.

By dawn the Fairburn police had located the stolen car, but alas the ingenious thief continued to elude his captors and his victim. This is just embarrassing and doesn't speak well of the police force in Fairburn, Ga.