This is shameful.. I've been caught by cops twice with chalk. In Berlin I drew a silly heart flying above clouds. at night while talking on the phone and payin

This is shameful.. I've been caught by cops twice with chalk. In Berlin I drew a silly heart flying above clouds. at night while talking on the phone and paying zero attention to anything else for like an hour, as somone taps me on the shoulder and says "don't be scared, plainclothes police". I told them what it was and that it was chalk, one tested it with his finger, and then when I took a photo of it he even said "oops sorry" for having smeared it a little before I could take that photo. Friendly doesn't even come close to describe it, it was unreal. They said I should wash it off, because if it was still there the next day, the owner might complain to them and then they would have to act. They also asked why I did it, I truthfully answered "heartache", they wished me good luck and we parted with ^_^ faces. The second time was in South Germany, in a rather rich little town, where I basically attempted to fill out with chalk a red heart outline someone else had sprayed there (onto a the wall of a small bank, too). They were all "well well well, look what we have here", and even took my chalk to "send it to the state attorney's office for analysis". But 1-2 hours later they called me up and asked the same thing the Berlin cops asked of me: just wash it off and it never happened. I guess they realized that in this case it just wasn't worth the paper work, or needlessly mean - but their first instinct was of the stereotypical bored police who found someone they could have authority over. I get that a heart is different than words (though it really depends on the words, doesn't it). But still. It's chalk... CHALK! Is it a wonder we can't have nice things, when people are afraid of chalk more than of locking someone up? Seriously, wat? Even the silliest Javascript quirks make perfect sense in comparison. And to think, I actually tried to encourage others, for a while I was convinced everybody should carry chalk with them and paint little things everywhere. Oh well, don't try this in police states I guess. Oh, I know, people like to say it's not their decision, it's the law, yadda-yadda, but that's just not true: Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men. --- George Bernard Shaw The same goes for rather innocent people, and prison or fines instead of death. Saying it's okay per definition because it's on the law books doesn't make it okay, it makes you a you-know-what.