STING OPERATION

In law enforcement, a 'sting operation' is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather evidence of the suspect's wrongdoing.

Contents

Examples

Ethical concerns

Secrecy

Sting operations in fiction

Notes

See also

Examples

★ Purchasing illegal drugs to catch a supplier

★ Deploying a bait car (also called a honey trap) to catch an auto thief

★ Setting up a seemingly vulnerable honeypot computer to lure and gain information about crackers.

★ Posing as someone who is seeking child pornography to catch a supplier

★ Posing as a supplier of child pornography to lure a child molester

★ Posing as a child in a chat room to lure a child molester

★ Police arranging someone under the legal drinking age to ask an adult to buy alcoholic beverage for him or her^[1]

★ Police also may ask a minor to attempt to purchase liquor.

Ethical concerns

Sting operations are fraught with ethical concerns over whether they consistute entrapment. Law-enforcement may have to be careful not to ''provoke'' the commission of a crime by someone who would not normally be inclined to do so. Additionally, in the process of such operations, the police often engage in the same so-called crimes, often victimless, such as buying or selling contraband, soliciting prostitutes, etc. In common law jurisdictions, the defendant may invoke the defense of entrapment.

Secrecy

Occasionally, a sting operation is kept secret from other associates. Additionally, sting operations may be a component of a conspiracy.

Sting operations in fiction

Several novels and short stories by science fiction author Philip K. Dick, such as ''A Scanner Darkly'', revolve around sting operations that have gotten out of hand.
Season Three of the TV series ''24'' has its entire main plot focused on a sting operation and its unforeseen consequences.
In the ''American Sonic the Hedgehog'' issues from Archie Comics, the Freedom Fighters were involved a sting operation against several of their foes.

Notes

1. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1878103&nav=9qrxNETb

See also

★ Bait car

★ Confidence trick

★ Operation Pin

★ Abscam

★ Cops in shops

★ Operation Century

★ Jailbait

★ ''The Sting''