Police and the Modern Sting Operation (From Controversial Issues in Crime and Justice, P 95-112, 1988, Joseph E Scott and Travis Hirschi, -- See -- See NCJ-110235)

• NCJ Number: 110240
• Author(s): C B Klockars
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Police-run fencing operations involve numerous costs and risks and require extensive efforts to produce a public image of effectiveness.

Abstract

They also provide an example of the Bittner and Manning theses about the conflict between the police role and the aspirations of modern democratic societies to achieve peace through peaceful means and the resulting need to wrap the police role in concealments and circumlocutions to make it palatable to the policy that authorizes it. Sting operations require substantial efforts by police to appear to be criminals. The risks are far greater than those of conventional detective policing. Thus, the precarious role of the fence demands, at some point, a counterbalancing positive police image of even more dramatic proportions. This image was presented in two U.S. Justice Department analyses of sting operations. The 1979 report entitled 'What Happened' is the more systematic and comprehensive volume. It presents 10 propositions summarizing the exemplary character of sting operations. However, careful analysis of the underlying statistics produces different conclusions regarding the effectiveness of sting operations. Data tables, detailed analyses of the 10 propositions in 'What Happened,' and 6 references.