Dragaera

Fw: the pitfalls of judgmental law enforcement

Lydia Nickerson lydy at demesne.com
Fri Jan 9 13:25:59 PST 2004

At 05:24 PM 1/8/04 -0800, warbi wrote:
>   Entrapment is a major weapon of police these days, just like illegal
>search and seizure.  There have even been recent movements to do away with
>the Miranda rights.  If they think drugs are involved, kiss your rights
>good-bye.


To quote Bruce Schneier, "Who ever knew that 'drugs' was the root password 
to the Constitution."

Insofar as they still maintain any semblance of respecting the laws against 
entrapment, entrapment means that the law enforcement officer specifically 
invites you to commit a crime, which you then commit.  One of their best 
ways around this one, where drugs are concerned, is to set up a buy at one 
meeting.  At the next, you show up and they ask you, "So, what's the 
deal?"  You say, "Like I said, 100 hits, 50 bucks.  Got the money?"  The 
actual question, "What's the deal?" is merely asking for 
information.  Entrapment would be, "Can you sell me a 100 hits?"  It is no 
longer illegal to say that _if the buy doesn't go down at that time_.

Hiding behind a bush isn't entrapment.  There is no specific invitation to 
speed.  Even by the older, stricter rules of entrapment, it doesn't 
qualify.  That there is no cop is not an invitation to commit a crime.