Chicago's top cop upset about impersonation

A visibly angry Chicago Police superintendent promised on Thursday to find out just how a 14-year-old boy allegedly impersonated a police officer and even went on patrol for several hours last weekend.

"When we have a security breach, we put our officers at risk and we put the public at risk," Superintendent Jody Weis said at a morning news conference. "And that cannot happen again."

Weis, who in past public appearances has appeared calm and unflappable, was clearly upset that a teen might put on a uniform, walk into a station, receive an assignment and spend five hours in a squad car with another officer without being confronted.

Not only did Weis promise a full investigation by the department and punishment for whoever was responsible for the "security breach," but he said he's asked the United States Secret Service to conduct its own probe of department procedures. The Secret Service, he said, has agreed to do so.

"We're very fortunate. We truly dodged a bullet on this. ... We have to plan for worst-case scenarios and we failed."

Weis said the department was lucky that the boy apparently just wanted to be a police officer.

"He went about it the wrong way, but he was not here to hurt anybody," Weis said. "But what if it wasn't that person?"

Weis, a former FBI special agent, told of another security breach that cost two FBI agents who were friends of his their lives. He said they were working in an office within a Washington, D.C. police station in the 1990s when a gunman walked in and gunned them down along with a detective.

"That should never have happened ... And that's why I'm upset about this," he said. "We were fortunate that this young man had no evil in his heart."

Weis' comments follow a demand of accountability from police supervisors who were on duty at the time by Mayor Richard Daley.

Police have not identified the boy because of his age, but they said he once took part in a program for youth interested in policing, and perhaps his familiarity with some procedures helped him blend in with the other officers.

The boy's ruse was discovered only after his patrol ended when officers noticed his uniform lacked a star that is part of the regulation uniform. On Monday, he pleaded not guilty in juvenile court to impersonating an officer.

Police have said the boy was not wearing a gun and did not issue any tickets. But, said Weis, "This was a matter of complacency. People failed (to) enforce policies that are in existence, and that is absolutely unacceptable."