A 17-year-old boy living in Kyoto has been referred to prosecutors for posing as a police officer by showing a fake police badge in a park in the city.

The incident occurred at around 9:25 p.m. on September 7 last year, at a park in Shimogyo Ward, TV Asahi reported Sunday. The boy showed the police badge to a group of four minors, both male and female, and asked for their names and addresses.

The group became suspicious and reported the incident to police.

In addition to the fake police badge with his own photo attached, a baton, notebook, handcuffs and an air gun were confiscated from the boy's home.

Police quoted the boy, who attends a vocational school, as saying: "I admired how cool police officers were. I wanted to question people as if I were a real detective.”

Police said the boy told them he had impersonated a police officer three or four times.