Short Eyes

Seven thirty in the morning and Chandler and I are just rounding the corner of our street, finishing up his walk. There in the middle of the street are a gaggle of my neighbors. There is Mandy and her dog Dandy, the guy from Saint Louis whose name I've never learned, and the nice, black lesbian couple who live five doors down. On the lawn of the triplex, across and halfway down the street from my house, sit a half a dozen black SUV's. All around the SUV's are men and women in black t-shirts with various acronyms emblazoned across their backs.
"What's up?" I ask.
The guy from Saint Louis fills me in.
"I heard it all. They told him to open the door, and before he could open it, they beat it down with a battering ram."
"It's the guy from New Hampshire. The guy who lives in the back apartment. They got him for kiddie porn." Mandy adds.
The guy from Saint Louis excitedly continues.
"The one cop told him that they had been chatting on the internet for months, swapping dirty photos of kids."
"He goin' away for a long time. I don't like cops, but I'm glad they got him." One of the girls from the corner chimes in.

I know. Ewwwww, what a piece of shit this guy is. None of us like this sort of thing, and I would never defend somebody who would take advantage of a child. My question is, what is it that makes these guys think the guy they're chatting with isn't a cop? It's like the newscaster here in Miami who made a date with a fourteen year old boy to meet in a K-Mart parking lot and was busted. Turned out that the 'kid' was actually a cop. Honestly, I don't think any fourteen year old girl or boy sits around thinking it would really be cool to do it with some grizzled old dude. Unless that kid is another grizzled old dude, with a badge.