http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=509182

This is very scary indeed!

If you can legally go to a store and buy something, and use it in it’s intended legal manner, then there is no crime. It’s only baiting the cops if the cops are using illegal tactics to location growers.

The only thing that separate the cops from the criminal are the rules. Cops follow then, criminals do not. When cops break the rules, they become the criminals. It’s that simple.

These guys sound smug – ‘highly self-satisfied’, to me.

I’m for legalizing drugs. One of the benefits is the cops in this situation would be able work on actual crimes.”

Never gonna happen. The prison industrial complex is a hugely profitable industry. There’s too much money to lose in not locking up people who do things like smoke weed.

The US is not a country that has the most people in Jail out of trying to protect the public. Follow the money.

And as far as entrapment goes I don’t think anyone, citizen or police officer, should be able to use it as an excuse to get out of punishment. If you want to do something illegal and you choose to do it, you’ve committed an illegal act. No one is forcing you to do anything, they’re giving you the option to do something or not do something. This particular department should be put under a microscope. The claim of entrapment is cowardly and anyone that uses it could use a slap to the face.

I’m for legalizing drugs. One of the benefits is the cops in this situation would be able work on actual crimes.

I find your post to be a real shame, mostly because I agree with your conclusion. However, you supporting arguments leave much to be desired.

I am going to go out on a limb and way that when you say “NO EXCEPTIONS” you are using hyperbole in both cases. If not, well you should probably re-examine the meaning of the words “minor infraction”

Obviously, there are some rules that cops will not have to abide by, and that they should not have to abide by. For example: the police are allowed to gain access (through the proper channels) to your private data. The police can carry guns in situations where it would otherwise be illegal. The police are allowed to lock you up in a cell and hold you there for a little while. These are all things that private citizens would be brought to court for, but the police are allowed to do as a function of their duties.

Obviously, the police can’t follow all the same rules that the rest of us do, otherwise everyone and no-one would be police. However, I am a strong supporter of the idea that they should follow the rules that have been set down for them by public officials and directly democratic legislation. The police have done something illegal here, even by the somewhat expanded definition of legality that we extend to law enforcement, therefor they need to be disciplined.

I’m not understanding why the warrant wasn’t given to them

When the cops ignore the law, then it is anarchy.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

You break the law, you go to prison, and it is the same for the cops.

AGAIN…NO EXCEPTIONS.

Whether it be growing dope or conducting illegal raids, there is a equal status to illegality.

There is no get out of free jail card because you have a hat and a badge.

If you don’t agree then where is the line?

Officer KKK shoots you for being black in a built up area? Officer Sex pervert has your kids, for being sexy towards him?

Either the cops abide buy the rules or no one does.

These guys shame not only their own police department but all police.

Bad thing to admit they set a trap – somebody may still charge them with something.

I don’t find it sort of dubious at all. I find it fair and square. The law requires probable cause and provides for “innocence until guilt is proven”.

If those entrusted with enforcing our laws don’t follow those laws themselves, not only are they not doing the jobs we as tax payers pay them for, but they are actively undermining the system they represent.

Police sloppiness, and police corruption can often look much the same to those watching.

The officers in charge should be disciplined. The public needs to see in real terms, that everyone, regardless of profession must follow the rules of the land.

In my view, this guy is a hero for pointing out the extreme abuses and unconstitutional behavior that underlies the war on drugs. The situation is even more dire in BC, Canada. Cops don’t even need a warrant– they can just ride in on a mandatory “safety inspection” if the state-run hydro company sees unusually high electrical usage. This has affected many innocent people, from seniors growing tomatoes to nerds with several servers running all day.

The Drug War is totally out of hand. We need an honest total reassessment of drug policy.

the way you prefer to live life does not always provoke a full verbal discussion of the topic as your flaws are of emotional and intellectual nature, not a miscalculation of the circumstances within your horizon.

“Entrapment is the act of a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offence which the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.”
From Wiki.

These police begain their investigation with illigal FLIR surveillance and then moved to producing fake informants to cover the violation of the bill of rights. They were not tricked into doing their illegal deeds. What this lawyer did was not entrapment. It was more like honey trap, such as a bait car to catch people who steal cars. This was a perfectly valid trap the police fell into. Those responsible should be forced to turn in their badges.

So he had good reason for doing this, not just to bait cops.

To point out the corruption in a judicial system maybe.

“Hey guys, I’ll pretend to do something bad when I’m not and see how the grown-ups react! It’ll be SO funny when they realise!”

(Having written that, I’ve realised that they’re likely getting money from the “news” networks for airing their footage.)