About a month ago, my friend told me that she and two other friends of ours were waiting at the bus stop one day trying to get around town not looking suspicious and not having done anything wrong except for the fact that they were teenagers around the ages of 15 and 16 (I'm 15 too btw). She told me that two really really fake looking undercover cops came by trying to look young with clothes that obviously didn't match them. One of them asked something like"hey, you guys lookin' to buy some weed?" My friend answered no and asked "you guys are cops aren't you?" and made fun of them by telling them not to dress so fake next time and two idiots just walked away.
I was pissed off that they actually tried catching my friends with something like that, but I was wondering if they're even allowed to do that. Isn't it considered entrapment or something if they actually ask you and you haven't done anything? And as long as you're innocent, you can refuse any request to search you, right?
2007-09-03 17:17:12 · 9 answers · asked by Ms. Green 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
This also made me wonder about how prostitutes can be arrested (and yes this is a serious question). I saw a documentary on prostitution and I wondered, do police have to go undercover and have a prostitute offer him something before she can be arrested? And are police allowed to ask them for an offer or do they have to be offered a deal?
Oh and I live in Palmdale, California.
2007-09-03 17:20:58 · update #1
I'm not totally sure because unfortunately I wasn't there, but my friends seemed pretty sure that they were cops. Why would regular people just walk off? Wouldn't they kinda try convincing you they're not? I mean, I would.
Oh and I personally don't really care what happens to the stupid kids and adults who buy crack and heroine and all that. If they end up dead, addicted, or retarded it's their fault for messing with such dangerous stuff. And I also think that it'd be okay if marijuana is legalized. People who smoke marijuana don't really get violent like drunk people do.
2007-09-03 17:48:16 · update #2
Not entrapment, unless they entice someone to commit a crime they were not looking to commit. If the girls said yes, and bought, to bad. If they said, no, and the cops kept pushing and finally convinced them, then it would be entrapment.
As to searching, the police have to have probable cause to get a warrant and the warrant would have to be issued by a judge unless there is some reason they have to search you now, or you consent.
Msi is incorrect as to the reasonable suspicion that give rise to the a search. There might be enough for a P. v. Terry pat down for weapons, but being somewhere you are not from does not give rise to a search, since you can just walk away and not even talk to the officer.
And yes the police can act as decoy hookers, and decoy Johns and yes they can lie and tell you they are not cops, even if you ask.
2007-09-03 17:27:11 · answer #1 · answered by Songbyrd JPA ✡ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have entrapment all wrong. Entrapment is where the police get you to do something you would not do otherwise. So lets look at it from your case, suppose your friends were pot heads and said yes, since smoking pot is something they do, otherwise they would say no the police did not get them to do it. They bought the pot fair and square off to jail they go. Same for prostitution if a hooker is busted the officers mearly catch her breaking the law, they did not force her to sell sex.
Now what your also talking about is probable cause. If you are just sitting a bus stop reading the paper, your dressed neatly the police can not come up and search you. They have no reason or probable cause, if they find something on you it is not admissable in court as evidence since it was obtained illegally. Now lets change the scenario around a bit. Police are looking for a person that looks like you for questioning about some robberies. They know from prior rap sheets your a heavy drug user. They see you at this bus stop obviously high. They see what looks like knife slashes on you, they have every right for their safety and for the safety of others to search you before bringing you in for questioning.
Hope that helps.
2007-09-03 18:50:04 · answer #2 · answered by satcomgrunt 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First off, your friends assumed these two were undercover officers, secondly, LA cops/deputies are really good at what they do and you won't know they are cops until you hear the cranking of the matching bracelets and you are arrested. Those guys were probably just a couple of drifters or something. It is not good for you to assume that your friends were being harassed or set up, Law Enforcement has bigger fish to fry. By the way those "Idiots" are the same ones that put their life on the line everyday to protect you and your friends from people that like to sell that poison to people your age.
2007-09-03 17:30:38 · answer #3 · answered by EddieX 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is not considered entrapment and there is plenty of legal precedent to support this type of law enforcement. Cops do these kind of stings all the time with prostitution, drugs, underage drinking, etc. This is nothing new and is a commonly accepted form of law enforcement. You didn't buy weed from them, so you didn't get in trouble.
A police officer has the power to initiate a search if they have a search warrant or probable cause. If you are standing there doing nothing, they do not have probable cause to search you. If you are walking around in an area that is known for drug dealing and you are not from that area, that raises enough suspicion for you to be searched.
2007-09-03 17:24:51 · answer #4 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
no, they do not have to and they won't. It's thier job, if I was a cop on top of a dope deal and was asked I wouldn't either, drugs control about half the population, it's like people who don't use it are minorities now. It needs cleaned up, but it needs cleaned up by honest people, not cops who confiscate half the take for personal use. WHich we have seen in Webster County for quite some time now, and no one wants to fix it.
2016-05-20 23:29:52 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
THEY PROBABLY WERE NOT UNDERCOVER COPS--ENTRAPMENT IS WHAT THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN--POLICE KNOW BETTER THEN TO ASK YOU-- A BUY IS USUALLY A SET UP PRE MADE-THEY CANNOT ASK FOR YOU TO BUY SOME WEED THIS IS ENTRAPMENT- THESE WERE NOT COPS FOR SURE-NOW IF THEY ASKED YOUR FRIENDS HEY HAVE YOU GOT SOME WEED FOR SALE THEN THAT IS A LEGAL BUY OP QUESTION THEN A TRANSACTION AND A BUST
2007-09-03 17:26:29 · answer #6 · answered by ahsoasho2u2 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What the police is doing is perfectly legal to both your friends and the prostitutes.
2007-09-03 17:24:19 · answer #7 · answered by kneeslide12 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
How do you know they were cops? Nothing you told us here says that they were. They could have just been a couple of idiots screwing around.
2007-09-03 17:24:01 · answer #8 · answered by ? 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
know who your friends are. period.
2007-09-03 17:36:13 · answer #9 · answered by vanessa c 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋