Sting_operation Sting_operation

Sting operation - Definition and Overview

Related Words: Act, Acting, Action, Activism, Activity, Adventure, Affair, Amputation, Appliance, Application, Behavior, Blow, Campaign, Commitment

In law enforcement a sting operation is an operation designed to catch a person committing a crime, by means of deception. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather evidence of the suspect's wrongdoing.

Examples:

  • purchasing drugs to catch a supplier
  • posing as a client to catch a prostitute or pimp / escort agency
  • posing as a prostitute to catch a client
  • posing as someone who likes child pornography to catch a supplier
  • posing as a supplier of child pornography to lure a pedophile
  • posing as a child in a chat room to lure a pedophile
  • police arranging someone under 21 to ask from an adult to buy alcoholic beverage for him or her; the adult is prosecuted if he or she complies (May 2004, Indio, California [1] (http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1878103&nav=9qrxNETb))

Law-enforcement may have to be careful not to provoke the crime. In common law jurisdictions, the defendant may invoke the defense of entrapment.

A related term is agent provocateur.

A related matter is parking a car as a honey trap for car thieves, etc.

In computing, a honeypot can be used to gain information about a potential cracker.

See also

Call girl, Operation Pin, Abscam

Example Usage of operation

softz: operation Alpha Zylon http://downloads.zaheema.com/operation-alpha-zylon.html
DintVerge: Is it not possible to use a heavy-lifter to establish a mining operation on Eros? With more Au than can ever be mined on Earth's surface?
workersuniting: Unite and CSEU's reaction to jobs cuts and BAE System's Insyte operation: http://bit.ly/8lUu1s
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