Sting operation

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In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative 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. Mass media journalists have used sting operations to record video and broadcast to expose criminal activity. The most basic type of sting operation in drug trafficking cases involves an undercover agent posing as a drug buyer. A variant on the sting operation when undercover agent poses as a seller rather than as a buyer is sometimes called a reverse sting operation. Police informants used in sting operations are frequently asked to "wear a wire" (be fitted with concealed recording equipment). In case of sting operations, during ensuing litigation a defense attorney may raise an "entrapment" defense, which asserts that law...

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