this is kind of a funny story, i guess. during my freshman year of high school, my friends and i were super into homestuck. for 4/13 (which is the anniversary of the webcomic), my friends heard about this homestuck cosplay meet up that was going on at the local mall from some people at school. we all decided to don our cosplays and various homestuck merch and go to the meet up. the people who were setting up the event strictly told people who were cosplaying trolls: no gray face paint and no horns. however, many people broke this rule.
we all walked together around the mall in a big group, going through various shops and eating lunch at the food court. considering i live in the southern united states in a rather conservative area, we got some weird looks. everything seemed fine and dandy despite some odd stares, but as we exited a store, a security guard/cop came towards us and asked who we were and who started/was the host of the event. we explained we were cosplayers/fans of a web series and just hanging out, however, the cops thought we were a cult. they told us we had to leave the mall. we all sighed and got frustrated but did as we were told. we then walked out of the mall and hung around the parking lot figuring out where we should go/what we should do now that we had gotten kicked out. a cop car then pulled up. the policeman that came out told us we had to leave the actual mall property or we would be arrested for "loitering" as they put it. this led to everyone having to call their parents to come pick them up/drive home. we had heard later that some people had refused to leave and did actually get arrested.
idk, it was pretty silly. none of us were doing anything wrong as far as i was concerned. we didn't vandalize anything, no one stole anything or made a huge ruckus. i guess it was just because we were dressed in funky costumes. i wouldn't advise going to a public place in cosplay unless theres a con or something nearby. anyway, that's the only run in with the police i've had.