One of the men who helped build my house had a relative many, many, decades ago who ran a still. The still was owned by the Sheriff!
During an election year, the Sheriff would want to show he was doing something about moonshiners, so he would drive to where HIS still was located. He would stop a good distance from the still, and yell, "John! John! I know you are in there come on out!" Course, John would run off, the Sheriff would bust up his own still, and publicize his finding of a still. This way, the Sheriff showed he was doing his job, but without busting up someone else's still. That would cost votes and cause other problems.

Later,
Dan