police

From the time I was about 6 until I was about 20 I believed that it was illegal to cut the tag off of a pillow and that as soon as I did the police would knock on the door in a matter of minutes to take me to jail

Kim

When I was little I was at a hardware store looking at cabinets. When I opened one, one of the henges broke off leaving the door hanging crooked. I was so scared that everytime the doorbell rang it would be the police coming to get me.

Sam

When I was about 3 or 4 years old my big sister told me that if I ever promised anyone something and didn't keep my promise the police would be after me and I would go to jail for the rest of my life. Let's just say I made very few promises and if I ever accidentally promised anyone anything it was never broken.

staying on the good side of the law

When I was a child I used to believe that the spot lights in the sky were the police that were trying to find bad children.

Anon

I used to believe that if you took the tags off of pillows, mattresses, etc. that you would go to jail!! Ha, ha, ha. The funny thing is, I still do...and I'm 48. My dad was a cop...do ya think that may have been part of it?

lanalove60

I used to believe that, if you did ANYTHING which was not allowed (for instance, if you touched something at a shop which had a "do not touch" sign), the police come to get you, and you'd spend a long time in jail just because of that.

Anon

I use to believe that cops were hiding behind every tree and bush. I would walk home from school, trying to get look behind the trees without them noticing me. I had thought since I never actually saw them, they were just really good hiders.

Richard B.

I used to believe that as soon as someone got hurt doing something, the gubment made up a law to prevent it from happening again.

Anon

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.

Anon

When I was 5 I was in the car when my uncle had a minor car accident. The policeman asked to see my uncle's license, and I saw it briefly when he gave it to the officer. The license was printed on safety paper that had green and red swirls in the background. The officer said his license was expired and I believed the policeman knew it was expired because it had gone moldy (hence the green and red swirls).

Megan

I used to think that things my parents told me not to do(i.e. jumping on the bed) were against the law and if the police found out I would go to jail.

Dyth

When I was little, I overheard a policeman on a TV show say, "You're under arrest". I thought that meant that the person being arrested was about to go to sleep (rest).

TxTetley

I thought that if you went to jail you wouldn't die. I think it came from someone telling me that if I went to jail I wouldn't go to heaven and I kind of misinterpreted it. I remember imagining going to jail and being the only person left in the world (because no-one else ever went to jail of course) as humans had become extinct and i could see that crocodiles had taken over and they were crawling into the jail where I was.

Ashley

I believed that the police had a laser beam like the radar detector that could tell if you had your seatbelt on and if you didn't you went to jail. My mom told me that when I was like 4 so I would always wear it. I found out otherwise when I was 16 years old.

Emily

When I first started driving I always hid my cigarette when passing a police car. I didn't differentiate Mom and "the law"!

marilyn

I used to think that all judges had to wear those wigs.

M

I used to believe that the "vice" in "vice squad" had the same kind of meaning as that in "vice president", so that a vice squad would be an alternate squad that would stand in for some main squad when the main squad was unavailable for any reason.

Beverly

In kindergarten, it was really cool to ride the school bus without a seatbelt on. Naturally I never wore a seatbelt, unless we happened to pass a police officer, in which case I put it on as fast as possible. It took me YEARS to realize that even if five-year-olds could be thrown in jail for not wearing a seatbelt, there was no possible way he could see my lap from outside the bus.

Oddly enough, almost all the kids in my neighborhood thought the same thing.

Buckle Up!

I used to believe that police men were evil people that loved to pull people over and send them to jail just for the heck of it. I think i got the idea from watching "cops" and I thought the theme song "bad boys" was referring to the fact that policemen are criminals. One time I was in the car and my mom got pulled over for speeding, I thought the cop was going to take us all to jail or shoot us with his gun!

ANON

When I was little I used to think the "Speed Limit" was called the "Speed Lemon" and if you drove too fast you would get pulled over and thrown in jail by a big glowing lemon shaped spaceship full of "police"- I also thought policemen were men with big lemon heads.. :p - I had an active imagination!

Brown