The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 12: I Was Entrapped!
Entrapment pg 23: Cops Can Help
MYTH #4: The police can’t help you to break the law.
Counsel explaining to dejected Jen
COUNSEL
Sorry, Jen, but this is just the flip side of Myth #3.
You were already trying to commit the crime.
Giving you the means to do it simply confirmed your intent. It didn’t create a desire you didn’t already have.
One of law enforcement’s more important tools for rooting out assassins, terror cells, and other plots is the use of the agent provocateur—typically an undercover or informant who poses as a sympathizer or as a supplier, in order to identify threats and gather evidence.
Despite the negative connotations associated with the term, merely using provocateurs isn’t a problem.
It only becomes a problem when the provocateur actually entraps an innocent person—which didn’t happen here.
I’ve said it before, it’s not a sniper rifle, it’s a high end hunting rifle!