» Breakin' The Law

Newcastle Police
I was a student in Newcastle and my flatmates and I had a couple of run-ins with the law.

In the first year we all decided to walk to toys r us in Gateshead for the midnight opening when the new star wars episode 1 toys came out. On the way the police stopped us. "Where are you lads headed?" they asked. "toys r us" we said. Not out of the realms of possibility but the police found it hard to believe this so they followed us all the way, crawling along in their car. When we arrived they saw that we werent robbing the place and left.

In the second year a flatmate was studying a theatrical prop making course. He bought a plastic m16 that fired bb pellets and customised it. When he had finished it looked bloody real.

For his portfolio he always took photographs of his creations, so one night we dressed as terrorists and captives and took a variety of pictures posing with the gun. The next day our flatmate took the film to snappy snaps for a 1 hour processing. On his return the manager told him that "there is a problem with the pictures, can you come into my office". Upon entering he was greeted by officers from the armed response unit who asked him all about the gun.

They took him back to our flat and demanded to see the thing. One officer said it was the best mock up he had ever seen, at that we "shouldnt point it at people out our window" as we were liable to get killed by the police.

Needless to say he was a bit shaken by the whole experience. We returned to the flat to find him sitting, shaking on the couch, when he told us the whole story. Thank god for digital cameras!
(Thu 8th Jan 2004, 9:54, More)