One of my pet peeves

spectrumc01

I give you....the TRUTH
Feb 9, 2011
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Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.
 
I agree spectrum. The dirty little secret is that the media doesn't have to worry about Constitutional restrictions and rules of evidence. They can omit data that they don't like and edit the video. The old 60 minutes bullies used to create situations and manufacture "evidence" for the camera. I would assume that media outlets have a duty to turn over suspected criminal evidence to the proper authorities without tainting it but maybe they are no such restrictions. The "reality" shows have gone too far.
 
Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.

I'll tell you something else that is troubling me. An acquaintance, Union Electrician, Shop Steward even, lives part time in Vegas, part time in Queens, NY. Big guy, you do not want to make mad. He's out in Las Vegas drives to a spot where he does his 4 mile walk, driving back, he needs to take a pee. It's desert, Nobody around, he pulls over and walks out into the scrub to relieve himself. He missed the security camera, he says there are allot of them there. He's driving away, next he see's a cop in his rear view mirror, he get's pulled over. She has him get out, questions him, calls for back up, goes back to where he took his piss, and documents it by taking Photos. He is booked, finger printed, locked up, car impounded. He is charged not with Urinating, but, Indecent Exposure, No Witnesses other than the camera he missed. He is found guilty. Now besides the expense of the Dog and Pony Show, he has a conviction of lewd behavior on his permanent record, because Vegas is broke and squeezing every way they can to bring in cash. He told me that had it happened inside the city limits, he would have had to register as a Sex Offender. My only problem with this guy is his Politics. This may or may not be totally true, but that is pretty much how he told it to me.

America's Most Wanted, did allot of good, Perv stuff that NBC does, probably helps cut down on some Bad behavior, though I can see it being abused. Sex Slave Trade should be shut down Yesterday, Slavery in America, should not exist in any form, there is no excuse. Zero Tolerance. I'm in the Appliance Industry, and a TV News team did contact me about setting up a Sting. I referred them to Someone more qualified to help them. They ended up using the biggest crooked outfit in my area to set it up. Total joke. In maintenance, there are things that can easily be missed or overlooked, it is not always plain to see the root cause of a problem. Ask yourself why a Manufacturer may go through 2 to 5 to 10 Retrofits before they correct a problem. Sometimes the fault is intentional, in that case, let the chips fall where they may. Sometimes action is taken in good faith, even though it is misdirected. Things are not always as claimed, that holds for advertising as much as accusations.
 
Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.
I'm with you, Spectrum. I don't like To Catch a Predator. My fiancee likes it, and he is the only reason I ever even watched it in the first place. Now, when he has it on, I go in the other room. I can't bear to watch it.
 
The shows that your talking about do not carry the weight and authority of the United States government and as such should not be held to anywhere near the same standard as actual police officers or the government.

If To Catch A Predator can convince a pedophile that they are talking to a child and that same pedophile ends up meeting Chris Hansen, where and what is the problem?
 
It is not entrapment if the suspect intended to commit the crime all along and the police agency (or, in this case, a television show) merely gives him the opportunity to do so. It is only entrapment where the idea to commit the crime never entered the suspect's head until it was suggested by the police.

Now, having said that, I very much agree with the OP. It isn't entrapment - but it is still a dirty trick.
 
It is not entrapment if the suspect intended to commit the crime all along and the police agency (or, in this case, a television show) merely gives him the opportunity to do so. It is only entrapment where the idea to commit the crime never entered the suspect's head until it was suggested by the police.

Now, having said that, I very much agree with the OP. It isn't entrapment - but it is still a dirty trick.

I agree.

It is perfectly legal, and wrong.
 
Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.



What you call Sting Operations are Investigative Reporting.

If you don't like the IR, don't read or watch it.

And I suspect the OP is not talking about TCAP. There has been a meme brewing on the left that the ACORN-Pimp sting "shouldn't be allowed".
 
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The shows that your talking about do not carry the weight and authority of the United States government and as such should not be held to anywhere near the same standard as actual police officers or the government.

If To Catch A Predator can convince a pedophile that they are talking to a child and that same pedophile ends up meeting Chris Hansen, where and what is the problem?

I disagree. Every time Chris Hanson gets finished grandstanding, 5-6 cops are waiting outside for the pedophile to gang tackle him like it's 4th and goal in the Superbowl with 3 seconds remaining and the ped has the ball.
 
Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.



What you call Sting Operations are Investigative Reporting.

If you don't like the IR, don't read or watch it.

It crosses the line from investigative reporting because the police are involved and the predator is arrested.
 
Sting operations run by the media. These shows need to come to a stop. The media is suposed to report the news, not create it. These shows are wrong on so many levels. If they want to be police officers perhaps they should get the proper training and become police officers. I have to question the ethics behind these stings. Are they allowed to do more and go further to entrap these people than regular officers? The good guys are supposed to wear white hats and abide by a code of ethics. When they wear black hats and set out to decieve they become the bad guys.



What you call Sting Operations are Investigative Reporting.

If you don't like the IR, don't read or watch it.

It crosses the line from investigative reporting because the police are involved and the predator is arrested.


If the police don't have appropriately collected evidence, they can't file charges.
 
What you call Sting Operations are Investigative Reporting.

If you don't like the IR, don't read or watch it.

It crosses the line from investigative reporting because the police are involved and the predator is arrested.


If the police don't have appropriately collected evidence, they can't file charges.

Skirts my statement. The fact is, because the police are involved, the ped is charged, and the ped is lured to the location, it is in fact a sting operation, not simply investigative reporting.
 
Over the decades, investigative reporters have done yeoman's work in exposing the corruption in local and national politics, in corporate misconduct, and sometimes they take down high level figures. Woodward and Berstein's work in the Watergate investigation comes to mind. Exposing ACORN was also good work. If it wasn't for the work of such private investigative work, we would never know about a lot of unethical or criminal behavior.


Sadly, it is often the underground in the media that's does serious investigative reporting these days. The mainstream media doesn't seem to have much appetite for it.

But despite the well done expose' in criminal or unethical activity, too often investigative reporting is little more than Papparazi with words looking for any 'gotcha' moment they can use to embarrass or compromise somebody. Too often it is for motives more than just getting a salacious story. And that is just plain wrong. More especially when they can't get hard facts so write enough innuendo and rumor so that people will think there is a story.
 

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