Carleton Bryant The Washington Times - January 26, 2009, 06:54AM

A 14-year-old Chicago boy posed as a traffic cop for five hours after showing up at a South Side precinct in full uniform and fooling real police officers, CBS2Chicago.com is reporting.

The boy signed out a radio and citations book, rode in a patrol car with a partner and completed five hours of a shift before a sergeant realized something was wrong. Police officials say the boy did not sign out a weapon, did not have contact with the public and probably didn’t intend any harm.

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The boy has been charged with impersonating a police officer.

There aren’t many 14-year-olds who could pull off a stunt like this.  I hope there aren’t many police departments where a stunt like this could be pulled.

I wonder what made that one sergeant realize the kid was a kid.  Pimples?  An adolescent crack in his voice?  An inability to eat his weight in doughnuts?  Or was it something as simple as the kid’s name wasn’t on the roll call sheet?  Hmmm.

I hope they don’t punish the kid too hard because they should encourage his interest in police work.  They obviously could use some bright, observant and eager young people there.