the law: police

When I was little I used to believe that certain policemen would sit at computer screens and watch every car on the road. The screen would tell them if you were speeding, not wearing you seatbelt and any other illegal things. I believed it was the only way the police could be able to catch people.

When I was little, I thought that if a police officer's kid got in trouble at home, he/she would go to jail instead of getting spanked.

I thought the police didn't have to follow the law and could do whatever they want. My reasoning was they were the enforcers of the law so who would arrest them or whatever? I wondered why all the bad people didn't just become cops so they could do crimes with impunity.

When I was 4, when I didn't like a turn of events in a movie I was watching I thought I could call the police and report it and they would arrest the moviemaker or something for putting that event in! I would "call the police" using my toy phone whenever something I didn't like happened in a movie, then waited by the window watching for the cops. Once a cop actually did drive by my street after I did this, so I thought the police had finally responded to one of my reports!

I believed that if you cut off those tags on pillows that said it was illegal to cut off, the police would somehow know this and come to your house and arrest you.

When my mom would buy pillows or lawn furniture, there would be a tag attached to it, saying "Do not remove, under penalty of law". I thought that if I tore it off, an alarm would go off at police headquarters, and they would come to my house and arrest me. One time I actually tore one off, then went to my room and sat on my bed, waiting for the police to show up.

When I was in kindergarten I walked to and from school by myself and had to cross the street. I believed that the crossing guard (maybe a 6th grader -- I know, another era) had the power to arrest and jail jaywalkers. I spent a horrible afternoon waiting for the police to come get me.

I used to believe that when the cops "booked" you, they bashed you over the head with a huge rule book. I was terrified of police.

When I was in 6th or 7th grade, there were stop-sign shaped signs all over the school, that said, "STOP STDs!" None of us even knew what STDs were, but we just knew you'd get arrested for them...

When I was four years old my aunt and uncle stayed at our house while my parents went on a camping trip. One afternoon they were driving my cousin and I who were acting up in the back seat. My uncle turned his head around and told me if I didn’t behave myself he was going to take me to the police station and give me the electric chair. I sat there thinking I couldn’t understand why my aunt thought that was so funny. Nevertheless, for most of my early childhood I believed every police station had an electric chair

When I was young, my mom used to say she was gonna call the cops on me when I was bad. I really believed she would and I was so scared of policemen. When my sisters were young (I'm 9 years older than them) I said the same thing to them but I made it worse by saying they would go to prison and never see mom and dad again. They used to cry and the one would scream so much! I didn't realize at the time how mean it was... :P

When I was little, I believed that the road signs that said 'DO NO PASS' meant that we weren't supposed to pass that spot. I was always so scared that the cops would pull us over because we passed the sign.

When I was little my dad was a really bad driver and loved to speed and run red lights with me in the car. Once he told me that getting a ticket from the police was actually a ticket to disney world. This prompted me to encourage him to speed, and break other laws of the road until he eventually got a ticket for zig-zagging across the road. The cop told him he was irresponsible for doing this with a child in the car. Then I asked the officer for the ticket so that we could go to disney. He looked at my dad with disgust.

When I was younger I used to believe that "Don't Drink and Drive" meant do not drink and drive any beverage at all so I was very upset when I saw my dad drinking a soda on a road trip, took me a while to realize they meant alcohol.

I used to believe that taxis (with their rooftop lights) were a division of the Police, and I always scrambled to check that my seatbelt was on when one drove by.

as a kid I thought the police didn't have to follow the law and could do whatever they want.