> Naaa. We're allowed to make jokes in a free country.

Of course you are. And lawyers are free to misrepresent it in court. Guess what? Your welfare isn't their top priority when they are trying to prove you owe compensation to their client.

> I didn't think it had gotten to that point yet, where you'd end up a prisoner for telling a joke. I hope this is not true.

It isn't true. That's why I didn't say it. I said a 'delinquent' saying it could expect to be thoroughly investigated at the station.
There's nothing more they'd love than being able to say "I confessed to a cop I'd stolen the car I'd just hot wired and I still got away with it!"

Joe Public would get the cop joining in the joke.