The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 12: I Was Entrapped!
Entrapment pg 11: The Police Didn’t Stop You
At the other end of the social protest spectrum, Zeke was marching with thousands of outraged citizens to protest the Mayor’s latest atrocity.
Preppy boy in a polo, with a sweater tied around his neck, flanked by protesters with signs reading “Just Say NO,” “Moderate Change Soon,” “No Smarm,” and “Stop Mayor Smarm”
As the march approached the City Hal Bridge, Zeke saw dozens of police in riot gear lining the roadway.
Bridge leading across the river to City Hall, police in riot gear are standing at attention along the sides of the roadway, protesters are entering the bridge with signs saying “No More Smarm,” and a police boat is out on the water.
The cops allowed the protesters to pass, right onto the bridge, then suddenly arrested all of them for obstructing the bridge without a permit.
Oh, now that’s just playing dirty.
Yes, I would wholeheartedly agree. We tend to rely on police in crowd situations to set the boundaries of acceptable conduct. It may not be entrapment, but I freely confess I would have a hard time voting for a conviction if I were on that jury.
I can’t say I’m surprised. The police (and by extension the state) hate even peaceful protests, and will shut them down any way they can.
That’s a pretty enormous generalization, considering how many individuals “The police (and by extension the state)” includes. Just saying.
In this case, I think it might be a mens rea situation. Just because people are blocking the bridge doesn’t mean they were doing it maliciously. You see this all the time; someone stops to talk to someone or poke at their phone, not realizing they’re in the way; a quick “excuse me”, and things are straightened out. As the saying goes, never assume malice…
I think this is just a “parade without a permit” situation, or similar.
Okay, this might not be *entrapment* but it’s pretty clearly a closely related issue. The police are physically causing them to commit a crime! Crossing the bridge is legal (I’m making an assumption that foot traffic is allowed, but seeing as it appears to be the only way to city hall if it’s not there’s much more fundamental issues here) and they were doing so. The police blocked them in on the bridge, now they’re not crossing, so they’re blocking it.
But the police are NOT causing the protesters to cross the bridge. In this scenario, the protesters were crossing the bridge of their own accord. The police simply didn’t STOP them from doing it.