A 14-year-old boy who wants to become a policeman fooled Chicago officers into believing he was one of them and was sent out in a patrol car.

Vincent Richardson appeared in juvenile court yesterday to face a charge of impersonating a police officer after “reporting for duty” at a police station at 1:30 pm on Saturday. He pleaded not guilty and was held for evaluation pending a new court hearing on February 27.

He had turned up for duty in full uniform including standard police-issue trousers, shirt, jersey and cap. He allegedly told officers at the Grand Crossing District station that he had been assigned by another district. He signed out a police radio and ticket book and was sent out in a patrol car with another officer.

The boy and his police partner spent five hours on traffic patrol before returning to the station. His partner failed to realise that the boy was an imposter until they returned to the police station, where a senior officer became suspicious.

When challenged, the boy was unable to produce a police badge. A search found that his holster was empty and that a newspaper was stuffed into the bag where he was meant to carry his bulletproof vest.

The incident has caused serious embarrassment for the Chicago force, one of the biggest in America. It insisted that the boy did not write any traffic tickets and was never behind the wheel of the car, but struggled to explain why he had been allowed on patrol. The boy’s mother, Victoria Brock, said that he told her he went on ten calls, including one that involved domestic violence. She said that it was the third time he had broken the law by impersonating a police officer.

Ms Brock said that last year he took part in a local “police explorer” programme for youths who were interested in becoming police, which is where he may have learnt about police procedures.

“Ever since he was 5 years old he’s wanted to be a police officer. I don’t know why. His whole life, his favourite \ show has been Cops,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ms Brock said that mental health evaluations had shown that her son, who was 5ft 6in and weighed almost 11 stone, was healthy. “He looks like a little man,” she said.

Reverend Roosevelt Watkins, the pastor of a local Baptist church, told the court that he acted as the boy's temporary guardian last year after he was arrested when he asked police to give him a life to a nearby police station because he was reporting for duty.

Rev Watkins said the boy was stopped by police a second time after walking around a shopping mall in full police uniform.

"Sometimes he does not think everything through when he's thinking about the consequences facing his actions," Rev Watkins said.

Arresting incidents

— Stuart Kennedy, a male stripper from the University of Aberdeen, was arrested this month for the 22nd time for impersonating a police officer

— In 2007 a man from Chester who dressed a scarecrow as a policeman for a competition was ordered to take it down or face charges of imitating a police officer

— The Game, a rap singer from New York, was accused in 2006 of telling a cab driver that he was an undercover police officer and ordering him to drive through red lights. The charges were dismissed

— In 2006 Adnan Hashmi, a councillor in Canada, was charged with impersonating a police officer. He had allegedly tried to stop an election rival, Ishrat Nasim, from running by fabricating evidence that she had given a false address. The case was dropped

Source: Times database

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