Was there ever a time when you probably should have been arrested, but weren't?

When we were kids, a pal and I shoplifted some golf balls from Montgomery Ward (anyone remember them?). A store-walker stopped us in the parking lot (who knew there were such things then?) and made us sit for a long time the manager’s office. When the guy came in, he sternly told us we were free to go home, that he wasn’t having as arrested, but that a policeman would come visit our parents within a week. One never did, of course, but lemme me tell you, it was one tough week!

…I don’t think this question was worded correctly….? Should that have been “weren’t” arrested?

Heh heh @Austinlad! Grown ups are mean! My dad caught me with some stolen good once, that obviously were shoplifted as I was only 8 and I had rolling papers on me (for to write spy notes on, see.) Dad said, with a sob and a catch in his voice, “You have to return these. I will go with you and just….just…. beg them not to arrest you….” Sob.

I like to of died!!! (I know! Should be ‘have’ but ‘have’ don’t sound right!!)

Yes quite a few times…never been handcuffed though…by the police that is! ;)

I’m a radical union organizer, spokesperson for a controversial direct action organization, and a well-known shit disturber. I also organize the local copwatch program. Despite being involved in this sort of work for the last 20 years, I’ve worn handcuffs exactly once, and that was as a result of not listening to my instincts. I had been going out for a bit of late-night direct action on behalf of my organization and knew something didn’t feel right. I sat there for a half-hour, smoking my pipe, bolt-cutters in hand, while I pondered. Eventually I decided that it was just jitters and I should just suck it up and do the deed. It turns out, of course, that we had been infiltrated by the police and they had a surveillance team waiting for me.

To answer your question: all the time. The police are given a great deal of discretion in who is and is not charged with a crime. If you are a notorious shit-disturber who will happily spend months dragging the entire system through constitutional challenges just for the hell of it and have a group of people behind you who will make themselves unutterably irritating if you’re arrested, the police will go to great lengths to avoid charging you.

Practical example: As a hobby, I like make my own stickers and go around slapping them on things—“LIES” stickers on newsrag boxes, “BUY YOUR SELF-RESPECT” or “THANKS FOR NOT THINKING” on ads, and so forth. Some time ago I saw a couple of cops standing next to a shopping centre. I walked right up to them, reached between them, and slapped a sticker on the shopping centre’s window, then stood there with my arms crossed. The cops simultaneously looked at me, looked at each other, then both turned their backs to me. “I see nussink! I KNOW NUSSINK!”

When I’m out doing copwatch, I will frequently be threatened with an obstruct charge by the police for standing there observing the police. My usual reaction is to take two steps backward and resume watching. If I am threatened again, I simply put out my hands, wrists together, and invite them to arrest me. In all the years I’ve been doing this, not even the stupidest meathead cop has taken me up on my offer, since they know perfectly well that it’s not illegal to watch a cop, and that I’d have their names across every newspaper in the city the next day.

If you can figure out where the line is where the amount of trouble you cause is balanced off against the amount of annoyance you can cause them by being arrested, you can make yourself essentially immune to arrest.

Well, hello @SmashTheState. Haven’t seen you around in a while.

Schhhhh…....
One of the first times I was in Woolworths without an adult present my pal and I were at the far end of the store admiring glossy packs of playing cards when it struck us that as no one was looking maybe we should just slip a pack in our pockets. The thought was terrifying but presented a challenge we could not ignore. We were not caught and my lovely pack of cards was one of my most treasured possessions for many years.

LOL! I would have felt so guilty I couldn’t have looked at them!

Once, when I was 18 or so, I stole a braided leather belt from a store at the mall. At one point one of the braids broke…and I took it back and demanded a replacement! Ga. I don’t know WHY I did that! I don’t even know why I stole it. But I did. The gall of me.
I haven’t stolen anything since, BTW. FYI. I be honest person. Honestly.

@Dutchess_III Now that is taking crime a bit too far.

Isn’t it awful??!! Anybody here remember Cricket Alley? If you owned the place, I tell you now….. SORRY!!!!!!!!!!

That time I was standing outside the front of a pub in the centre of Manchester, early on a Friday evening, smoking a spliff…

OW!! Lilly! Letgo my hair! The question is FITS!!!!

when I was a kid we used to melt lead and pour it into mold to make things. One friend made a mold of a marble. Cool! Another kid collected metal lipstick tubes because you could fill them with firecracker powder and make a louder boom. One of us noticed that the lead ball fit perfectly into the tube. We made a small hole in the side of the tube, packed it with gunpowder and shoved the ball into it. We then propped it up with some bricks and lit the fuse. We thought we’d be lucky if the ball went 50 feet. Ka-Blam! Right into a house under construction about 100 feet away. It was incredible! Disturbing the Peace, Destruction of private property.

@Dutchess_III, yes, it seemed mean at the time, but I know now that he probably knew exactly what he was doing to scare us like that. In any event, it was a good lesson.

@worriedguy Dang! I’m SO glad I wasn’t your mom!!

@Austinlad In the interests of total “honesty” I think too many parents today underestimate the effectiveness of theatrics performances! I didn’t. To this day some small part of my grown kid’s brains are convinced I’m a witch!