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High Crimes and Law Abiding Citizens - Do Drug Dealers Have More Rights Than C-Store Clerks

Posted on | April 3, 2002 |


When is it okay for a representative of a law enforcement agency to ask an otherwise law abiding citizen to break the law, knowingly or unknowingly, and then charge them with a crime?

Consider this scenario. Officer Bill Blue is fishing today. Working an undercover sting operation, Officer Blue picks Joe Somebody out of the crowd on the street, pulls him to the side and says, “Hey man, I really need 10 bucks. Will you buy this joint off me?” This is the thirteenth person he’s tried this on today after 12 failures, but Officer Blue knows if he casts his lure enough times, someone will bite. This time Joe Somebody does. “Sure man, I’ll buy it,” Joe says as he starts digging in his pocket for $10 bill. A jerk on the pole and this fish is caught. Officer Blue reels him in and he’s charged with the illegal possession of a controlled substance, and the court date is set. Except this time, there’s a problem. The officer initiated the sale, not the “perpetrator”.

Any lawyer worth his salt would throw the word entrapment into the mix and Joe Somebody goes home a free man. Why? Because the prosecution cannot prove that he would have broken the law on his own accord without the officer encouraging him to do so. That is how our system should work. Our law enforcement officials are supposed to investigate people who are already breaking the law, using undercover officers, informants, and forensics to gather enough evidence on them for a conviction. They are not supposed to randomly select members of society and offer them a chance to break the law. That is why you never hear of the police running a sting of this kind to make a drug bust. It is simply the wrong way to get it done. The basis of our freedom relies on our legal system being a reactionary one that punishes criminals who are already criminals, not a proactive one that sifts through the population in lottery fashion tempting Joe Somebody’s with a chance to break the law.

The truth is, everyone breaks the law in some form or fashion at some point in their lives. Whether they crack the speed limit by a few miles, forget their seatbelt on a trip to the supermarket, or don’t get a building permit before they remodel their basement, there are very few Americans who haven’t pushed the envelope of the law in one way or another. Does that make it right? Of course not! But we can’t have our government putting radar detectors every 100 feet on the highway to catch speeders, sensors in every car to alert the police when you pull out of the driveway with your seatbelt not fastened and weekly inspections of every basement in town so you don’t put up a new wall without the proper permits either. If they did, I’m sure that fewer people would break the law, but it would also make this country a police state, rather than a free nation. That’s okay for “enlightened” European nations like Britain, Norway, and, Switzerland, but it is unacceptable for us. It simply would not be American. Once our law enforcement officials are given free reign to investigate people who want to obey the law, and encourage them to break it instead, the floodgates will be open, and every American will be open to become the target of entrapment.

Right now, as you read this, police officers are sending minors into grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations and liquor stores, at the instruction of the Wyoming Legislature, to attempt to purchase tobacco and alcohol. The official purpose of these stings is to conduct “compliance checks”. They are done in the name of protecting our children from the harm of tobacco and alcohol use, but their real purpose is to write tickets out to otherwise law abiding citizens who make mistakes. The fact is, there isn’t a retailer or clerk anywhere in Wyoming who wants to sell these products to minors, and none of them would ever approach a minor and offer to sell them alcohol or tobacco, but Wyoming’s statutes have made these people suspects in the eyes of the law. Not only are the clerks in small businesses all over Wyoming now expected to parent and police the minors who are trying to buy alcohol and tobacco, they are now being treated as criminals, just like drug dealers, without the benefit of the doubt. They are being made the targets of criminal investigations on a daily basis without ever having been accused or suspected of any crime or wrongdoing.

These policies, handed down by the Legislature and carried out by law enforcement, strain the relationships between peace officers and the people they are hired to protect. Criminals should be wary of a police officer who crosses their path and they should hush to whispers and give wide berth when a deputy approaches. The average citizen should not. The average citizen should feel free to welcome law enforcement officials into their communities, their businesses, and even their homes without the underlying fear that the officer is there to catch them off guard and make a lawbreaker out of them. They shouldn’t have to wonder every time they smile and say “Howdy” to their neighborhood peace officer when that same officer is going to make them the target of his next investigation.

This new way of upholding the law just doesn’t work in America, and especially here in Wyoming. The government should always assume that the average citizen is attempting to obey the law, and our law enforcement policies should reflect that. If they want to stop minors from obtaining alcohol and tobacco, they should arrest minors who actually try to buy alcohol and tobacco, and when they find minors who already have those products in their possession, they should follow it to is source and take appropriate legal action.

So, to answer my original question, “When is it okay for a representative of a law enforcement agency to ask an otherwise law abiding citizen to break the law, knowingly or unknowingly, and then charge them with a crime?” Never! They should leave the clerks and other average law abiding citizens alone, giving them the benefit of the doubt until there is reasonable suspicion to do otherwise. Let’s keep the fishing trips focused on the real criminals and leave Joe Somebody out of it.

Wisdom

Category: Words O' Wisdom
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