Comments on: Topless Woman Police Entrapment Sting

By: Media Hype

Media Hype — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:16:59 +0000

I think it sucks that the media either a. missed the fact that this woman was NOT A COP or involved in a "sting". or b. worded their article carefully enough to give the impression that she was a cop.

This is exactly what I would want my cops doing if this were going on in the park near my home. Like it or not the topless woman is legal. The guy was not. She did provoke the guy though so its too bad that she didnt get some sort of punishment too.

By: Alan Kellogg

Alan Kellogg — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:57:06 +0000

Lunacy,

She ... wasn't ... breaking ... the ... law. What she was doing is legal in Columbus Ohio parks. Arresting people for engaging in legal behavior is counter productive.

By: lunacy

lunacy — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:33:40 +0000

Crime must be minimal in Columbus for them to create the circumstances, and thus the revenues.

We should all be so lucky to live in such a low crime environment.

Me...I can limit my toplessness to my own back yard only because there are too many robbers and carjackers around.

Did SHE get arrested for exposing herself?

Can the PD get fined for coercing crime by asking her to go topless?

Lunacy

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:10:05 +0000

Indeed, it would seem that the city of Columbus would be far better off not encouraging women to sit around the park half naked.

Whoa... whoa... Whoa!

We do NOT need the law discouraging that at all

By: Alan Kellogg

Alan Kellogg — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:44:39 +0000

First, we need to work out the protocol for such situations, which would not include public genital exposure. But I must disagree with James whereto topless women in public places. The problem here is not that it occurs, but that it occurs so rarely. Along with inculcating appropriate behavior at such times, we need to encourage more women to go topless. That way people will get used to it and be more inclined to take it as a matter of course.

By: vnjagvet

vnjagvet — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:39:17 +0000

The update changes things a bit. As a Judge, I would let the police put up their case, and then rule as above after hearing the evidence.

Legitimate speed traps don't use a bevy of speeding red corvettes going through the trap just to entice leadfooted followers.

That is just too much to resist for red-blooded american drivers of a certain age.

By: vnjagvet

vnjagvet — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:17:53 +0000

If I were the judge, I would tell the accused to keep his zipper zipped, sin no more, and dismiss the case becaused he was entrapped as a matter of law and all things considered this is his lucky day.

Then I have a conference with the DA and suggest that he confer with the Police Chief and cut this sh** out. After all, using a half naked siren who likes to see di**s in the park as a lure could even catch the son of a prominent politician. Then what would they do?

By: Patterico

Patterico — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:38:31 +0000

Actually, that opinion is based on the way I originally understood the story: that the sunbather was a cop and asked to see the guy's privates.

By: Patterico

Patterico — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:01:07 +0000

I think it's entrapment.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:13:11 +0000

Agreed w/ YAJ that, commonsensically, where the 1st mention of anything criminal is the cop's asking you to do it, that shouldn't be legal. However I would not be surprised if the law were less commonsensical. IIRC, the recent trial of the "Sears Tower jihadis" involved similar enticements, with an undercover informant's being the one to propose illegal deeds, help equip for them, etc.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:52:27 +0000

Now the question is, if a Police officer tells you to drop you pants, is it both illegal to comply and to not comply?

By: Tlaloc

Tlaloc — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:36:04 +0000

Why would it be illegal to expose yourself to a someone who wanted you to, anyway? Seems kind of stupid. And wouldn't the woman have been violating the law by being topless in the fist place? Are sting operations allowed to break the law to enforce the law.

This story is dumb on so many levels.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:19:01 +0000

With all due respect to DRJ, I think he missed the boat on the question of this being entrapment.

“The definition of entrapment is police activity that induces somebody to commit a crime that they otherwise wouldn’t do,” said Gabriel Chin, law professor at the University of Arizona. “It’s not entrapment to give somebody an opportunity to commit a crime.”

Chin explains that entrapment involves an officer cajoling and persuading someone who’s resistant to the idea of committing a crime. “Just preying on a predisposition is not necessarily entrapment.”

Now consider that the topless police woman asked him to show his penis. It was not that he offered to expose himself (showing a predisposition), but that she introduced the idea into the conversation. At that point, while he should have kept it in his pants, the predisposition comes from the cops.