I bought a Chicago PD leather jacket about ten years ago and wore it from time to time.  It saw a lot of service in the fall and spring for a couple years.  It was my main leather jacket there for a while.

Since I wore it all the time I stopped thinking of it as a Chicago PD jacket and more as just my jacket, nothing special.  It had the patches and everything but I forgot to notice after a while.

The first time I had an official Experience with it was when I was in line at the grocery store.  I had to buy some donuts for the office, so there I am in line at the local Dominick's with the PD jacket on and a box of donuts in my hands, and the guy in line in front of me looks back and sees the jacket (and presumably the donuts) and says, "You go on ahead of me."

Huh, I think to myself.  That's awful nice of him.

After I paid and was on my way back to my car it dawned on me.  I guess he thought I was a cop.  Hmmm.

The second time was pulling up to the local garage to get an oil change.  I pull in and hop out, and the guy comes running up to me and says Hey, we have this commercial account that brings their trucks in here all the time or I'd squeeze you in right up front but I just can't right now, can you hang around for fifteen minutes?  I'm right on it, I'll hook you up.  Jeez, this place has great service, I thought.  How nice of him to come out and... dammit, I have that jacket on again, don't I.  Yup.

Another one was on the Eisenhower Expy.  There was this Latino guy with a bunch of rattly shit in the back of his miserable pickup, and there was this one rusty piece of conduit that was kind of flapping around in the bed like it wasn't tied up right.  I gave him a honk and pointed to the conduit.  He must have thought I was pulling him over, he waved and pulled right the fuck over.  I was like WTF? and then realized I must have had the Magic Jacket on again.

The last time I wore it this 4'10 Irish chick cop saw me standing in line at the newspaper stand buying an oatmeal cookie and threatened to book me for IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER or I could cut the patches off RFN.  Fine, let's cut the patches.

And this ends the saga of my life as a Chicago cop.

I think the irish chick is trying to split hairs.  

tag

Those jackets are goofy.

You should have banged the Irish chick

Quoted: I bought a Chicago PD leather jacket about ten years ago and wore it from time to time.  It saw a lot of service in the fall and spring for a couple years.  It was my main leather jacket there for a while. Since I wore it all the time I stopped thinking of it as a Chicago PD jacket and more as just my jacket, nothing special.  It had the patches and everything but I forgot to notice after a while. The first time I had an official Experience with it was when I was in line at the grocery store.  I had to buy some donuts for the office, so there I am in line at the local Dominick's with the PD jacket on and a box of donuts in my hands, and the guy in line in front of me looks back and sees the jacket (and presumably the donuts) and says, "You go on ahead of me." Huh, I think to myself.  That's awful nice of him. After I paid and was on my way back to my car it dawned on me.  I guess he thought I was a cop.  Hmmm. The second time was pulling up to the local garage to get an oil change.  I pull in and hop out, and the guy comes running up to me and says Hey, we have this commercial account that brings their trucks in here all the time or I'd squeeze you in right up front but I just can't right now, can you hang around for fifteen minutes?  I'm right on it, I'll hook you up.  Jeez, this place has great service, I thought.  How nice of him to come out and... dammit, I have that jacket on again, don't I.  Yup. Another one was on the Eisenhower Expy.  There was this Latino guy with a bunch of rattly shit in the back of his miserable pickup, and there was this one rusty piece of conduit that was kind of flapping around in the bed like it wasn't tied up right.  I gave him a honk and pointed to the conduit.  He must have thought I was pulling him over, he waved and pulled right the fuck over.  I was like WTF? and then realized I must have had the Magic Jacket on again. The last time I wore it this 4'10 Irish chick cop saw me standing in line at the newspaper stand buying an oatmeal cookie and threatened to book me for IMPERSONATING A POLICE OFFICER or I could cut the patches off RFN.  Fine, let's cut the patches. And this ends the saga of my life as a Chicago cop.

Well, she does have a point: you weren't even trying, and yet look how many people you still managed to "fool" into thinking you were a cop.

Walking around in public in partial uniform with patches identifying you as an LEO sounds legally "iffy" to me. I would think that just taking the patches off would be a good idea, that way you have a good, solid jacket and don't have to deal with the annoyances (as fun as they might have occasionally been....go on, admit it ).

ETA: Just be thankful you didn't accidentally convince anyone from the "other" crowd...the people that will automatically do everything they can to take a dump on anyone in uniform. Thankfully they are a lot less common in public than on these boards...

I dont wear anything that would advertise my police officer status to people.  That is just asking for problems down the road.  We've already had guys threaten some officers' families because they say police related stickers/hats in the cars the families were driving.

Quoted: You should have banged the Irish chick

You don't know many Irish chicks.  They definitely skew the numbers.  They're either Hot or Not.

This one was Not.  Little battle axe.  No thanks.

Quoted: I dont wear anything that would advertise my police officer status to people.

I always found it odd that some of the  corrections guys i worked with had tons of T shirts and hats  with the DOC logo  and they would wear them everywhere
I mean you cannot carry as a CO in Ne and I did not think you need to advertise to anyshit bags

Quoted: Quoted: I dont wear anything that would advertise my police officer status to people.   I always found it odd that some of the  corrections guys i worked with had tons of T shirts and hats  with the DOC logo  and they would wear them everywhere I mean you cannot carry as a CO in Ne and I did not think you need to advertise to anyshit bags

A lot of guys aren't wire to think that way.  They like to advertise their careers (like most people do).  Unfortuanately, people dont always like people involved in the LE field and will sometimes try to take revenge on the 1st person they see advertising their job while out of uniform.