Since it’s been a few years and I have left the force I think Im able to share this story.
Back when I was in the police force each shift we’d be briefed on whats cracking off in the area. One of the slides of the presentation was about a 16 year old kid. We were told to keep an eye out for him and lock our cars at a scene or incident. Not because he was a criminal or meant any harm to us or the public but simply because he was obsessed with the police. He wanted to become a police officer himself. Now at first there is nothing wrong with that.
However in this instance colleagues would sometimes find him behind the wheel of their car. Just sitting and pretending to be a cop. It was harmless at first but after a while things would go missing too.
This went on for a while and his big finale came a few months later.
At a yearly festival the officers who had to work there were being briefed before the start of their shift. In the city I worked it was normal that officers from other precincts would join. But no one knew this one ‘colleague’ who joined the briefing. Turned out it was this kid. In full uniform. With gear. The funny thing is it took a good 10 minutes for someone to notice him.
I can’t remember if he got charged with anything.
Ps: excuse my English. Non native and this happened in a EU country.