D.C. police use high-risk stings in battle against armed robberies

Source - Washington Post

The man with the diamond earrings passed out black-and-white photos showing the crew’s targets: a liquor store in Southeast Washington and its owner, a Mexican drug dealer. In the trunk of the getaway car were two machetes, three guns and enough wire to tie up the owner before taking off with a pile of cash and coc aine.

“We’ve done this . . . too many times, too many times,” one of the men bragged, insisting that his crew, suspected members of the Street Thug Criminals gang, was ready.

But the robbery was not real — not the target or the victim. The man with the earrings was an undercover police officer who had spent weeks gaining the trust of a crew leader. Waiting outside the room where the men had gathered was a SWAT team armed with semiautomatic weapons.

Could it be the alphabet agencies are running out of "terrorists" to setup, so they are now lending their tactics to local law enforcement in order to keep the appearance up of actually doing something?

The little-known local law enforcement tactic mimics controversial FBI operations that targeted would-be terrorists in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Similar sting operations conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have drawn rebukes in recent months from federal judges in California for “outrageous” government conduct.

In the past two years, the D.C. police stings have resulted in convictions of more than a dozen men in federal court. The tactic has overcome the few legal challenges it has faced in the District but has prompted harsh criticism. Defense attorneys and some legal experts have asked whether the police should be encouraging people to commit crimes they might not have otherwise committed by providing invented opportunities and, in some cases, guns and getaway cars.

I am just befuddled when I think our law enforcement agencies fund and maintain activities like this, and come back every year asking for more money to fund these activities. Wow, in two years, D.C. police have wasted all the time, effort, and money on pre-crime intervention, and only have "more than a dozen" convictions. I am pretty sure there are more pressing matters the D.C. police could focus on, rather than inventing crimes.

Every morning, I run across more WTF news from all across the country. This to me is the kind of thing that makes the citizens of this country despise and distrust law enforcement, along with all the militarization, abuse of power, lack of accountability, and the overall lack of respect for the laws they are entrusted to enforce. I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings.

a reply to: retiredTxn

I grabbed this snippet from your link…

…the police should be encouraging people to commit crimes…

Its out of context, but is the apparent policy. And why not? The US Gov. encourages foreign countries to commit much larger atrocities all the time. What a shining example our government sets for the locals, here and abroad.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Most dangerous policy is right. Waiting for them to "select" a real bandit that shoots all of them and the targets to get all the money and drugs for himself.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: retiredTxn

I grabbed this snippet from your link…

…the police should be encouraging people to commit crimes…

Its out of context, but is the apparent policy. And why not? The US Gov. encourages foreign countries to commit much larger atrocities all the time. What a shining example our government sets for the locals, here and abroad.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Most dangerous policy is right. Waiting for them to "select" a real bandit that shoots all of them and the targets to get all the money and drugs for himself.

We already know the US government could screw up a steel ball while in a padded cell, so we have no greater expectation of success when local law enforcement follows their lead. One of my fears about this type of sting, is one will go seriously wrong, as you stated, and that will open us up to even more Orwellian activities on our citizens. Where does it end?

a reply to: retiredTxn

They have seemingly graduated to this stage of "entrapment". As a side note. When I was young I used to listen to scanner traffic. Their "stings" back then were simpler.

A "drunk" undercover would lay "passed out" in front of 7 - 11-- with cash visible in a shirt pocket.

Like you said, whats next?

I never support this kind of operation. It should be illegal (whoops) theres that word. Like bribes, there are two guilty parties; those who take the bribe and those who offer them.

These are the kind of things to expect when lunatics are in control.

a reply to: retiredTxn

How about making it easier for citizens to get firearms so they can protect themselves?

Nah, that would take control away from the State.

originally posted by: gladtobehere
a reply to: retiredTxn

How about making it easier for citizens to get firearms so they can protect themselves?

Nah, that would take control away from the State.

Heck yeah! I'm all for that! We all know it is going to be an uphill battle just to keep the rights we have, much less expanding them. Here in Mansfield, they are still running stings over that herb that's in the news so much.