Lilly Allen, 10, was playing hopscotch outside her home in Kent, England, when she was approached by police officers that her chalk drawings on the public pavement was criminal:
[Lilly's father Allen] told the tabloid newspaper: “Two policemen in a car drove up to her and said it was illegal to draw on the floor as it was criminal damage. "I am absolutely seething they have done this."
After the public blowback, the coppers are in retreat:
A Kent Police spokesman said in a statement: "We are trying to trace the officers, who are reported to have made this comment. "From the circumstances described, it would not appear to have been necessary to advise the young girl that chalking a hopscotch grid may be criminal damage and illegal."
Couple that with having to deal with criminals everyday and I can see why cops are they way they are..... not that there is any excuse for it but I understand.
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~nathanaf/power_without_status.pdf