Do you Call this Entrapment? I Do…

My wife Denise and I were watching TV the other night about a police program that was using a “bait” car. Basically the cops were leaving a running computerized car in a high crime rate neighborhood and waiting for some one to steal it. Once it was taken, the police would activate the car’s computer system to lock the doors and turn the engine off. Capturing the would be thieves red handed. Or do they?? Now, backing up here just a little bit… When I was a “young ‘en” My Grandpa, whom we called “Buzz” used to take us boys fishing. Well, just in case you don’t know anything about  fishing, you need at least three things. First off, you need a fishing pole. That holds the fishing line and basically it’s a rod that you cast the line out with. In other words, casting is throwing something out in the general area of where you think there might be fish. Second thing you need is a “hook”. The hook is a tool that is used to grab a hold of and to “pull” something in with it. Third  thing you need is bait. Now what is bait? Bait is something the fish like to eat or crave. They don’t usually bite on an empty hook. They need to be “tempted”. So what did us young boys do? We’d “bait” our hooks and cast out were we thought fish might be lurking. Well, the TV show did the same. Except they were using a computerized car for bait and people were the “Fish”. So the took their “bait” car to a poor neighborhood  and left it running on the side of the curb. So what do we have here? Let’s see. One, an empty running vehicle left in a poverty stricken area. Two, people that are being tempted.  And three, cops in unmarked cars “fishing” and hoping someone will take the bait.  And they almost always do. Good or bad, this is a “set up”. The cops aren’t really taking car thieves off of the street. They are searching for weak minded people  and tempting them. Would it be any difference if I walked into an AA meeting and threw a full bottle of alcohol out in the middle of them? One of them is bound to get up out of their chair and “go for it”. Why? Because I tempted them, that’s why. It’s human nature. Those poor guys on the street weren’t out looking for a empty car that was left with the motor running. But it was dangled in front of them. So they took it.  The were baited and they bit. Plain and simple.

This leads me to another TV show that does the same thing but is much more serious. “To Catch a Predator”. Chris Hanson’s claim to fame. I’m sure you have seen this show too. Now hang on before you lash out at me. Child Molesters need to be taken off of the street. That’s a given. But what about the show? Men show up to a house expecting to find a young girl and out pops Chris Hanson and a film crew. Before you know it, Chris is reading excerpts from chat logs that the guy has carried on over the Internet with the “bait”. But is Chris really taking child molesters off of the street? I say no. He and his staff are preying on lonely men that go from chat room to chat room willing to talk to someone, anyone. Most people know that almost everyone lies or stretches the truth online. They lie about their age, their education, their job positions, the money they make. The list goes on and on. These “sting operations” that Chris does aren’t done in one night. Meaning, they don’t sign on to a chat room that night and ask someone to come and see the decoy. They talk to these guys for weeks at a time. They would lure him back time and time again. They continued to tempt him over and over. Of course, the decoy would but would carry on with him or baiting him as it is known. And really, the decoys are adults disguising themselves as minors. So they are stretching the truth to entrap someone too. Have you ever did a research on the show? Seems there are several lawsuits pertaining to this type of entrapment that they are doing, or should I say “were doing”. The show kept trying to contact one guy that had stopped talking with their decoy after a few weeks. Apparently he got smart, but unfortunately the film crew went to his house to find out why and he committed suicide for them. His family sued, they were paid off and Chris Hanson’s show was canceled. That’s fair enough but he has ruined a lot of lives with the “fishing” he has already done. Wouldn’t it be ironic if someone set Chris Hanson up and busted him for something? He’s only human too you know. He has to have some vices too that no one knows about. I wonder what they are…

In closing, cops need to catch real car thieves and they also need to catch real child molestors and predators. Not the baited ones … Agree? Disagree? Dicuss …