Police Use Paid Johns to Bust Women

sky_wire's Avatar
Here's an interesting news story.

Cat-and-mouse game with hookers

Police officers try to stay a step ahead of savvy prostitutes with sting tactics

Sunday, October 17, 2010
By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

They call it the "cop check."
A prostitute from Alaska used it the other day in Monroeville.

After a man arranged online to meet her in a hotel parking lot, she walked up and -- without saying a word -- grabbed his crotch.

"I have your whole world right here," she said, laughing, as she clutched him through his pants and guided him into the hotel.

"She was practically dragging me," the man said. "I said, 'Well, let's rock that world.' "

The cop check failed, though. The man was an undercover Monroeville police officer, and he and a team of officers later arrested her in a hotel room after she offered sex for $200, according to an affidavit.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10290...#ixzz12g1qbDCW



or

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10290/1095895-455.stm

When, oh when will these girls learn that there is no "magic formula"? If you meet a cop and he suspects you're a hooker, you're going downtown. Period. No matter what you say or do and no matter what he says or does. Because even if the jurisdiction requires you to say some particular thing or prohibits him from doing a particular thing, he'll simply lie and say that you said whatever it is, or that he didn't do whatever it is. Case closed. The only way to be safe from these sleazy, lying, sadistic control freaks is to avoid being anywhere near them.
My question is to any legal minds is this: What if the cop was recorded in saying he was not a cop, was not assisting the cops etc...

If that is played in court indicating he would lie to get an arrest would not that tarnish his credibility and thus make his word against the lady shaky?
sky_wire's Avatar
My question is to any legal minds is this: What if the cop was recorded in saying he was not a cop, was not assisting the cops etc...

If that is played in court indicating he would lie to get an arrest would not that tarnish his credibility and thus make his word against the lady shaky? Originally Posted by Spirit13

No, no, no. Cops are allowed to lie in order to make an arrest. The US Supreme Court said so.
No, no, no. Cops are allowed to lie in order to make an arrest. The US Supreme Court said so. Originally Posted by sky_wire
Ok.... here is a thought.. say she lies and says she is not a cop, you get tagged and all that fun afterwards...

Can you then file a "fraud" charge since fraud is false representation and she represented herself as an escort, was asked if she was a cop, lied and you got busted. Fraud would put her in a civil court on her own. I am sure the city would try to rally behind her but you could contend that if the city comes to the aide of one cop being sued in civil court, they would have to do so for others... and all it takes is the snowball to go downhill.

You could also out her as an undercover cop in public.



Reason I ask is that if they are allowed to lie to us, we should be able to lie to them.
nope. You can't sue the government, either.


to me the only interesting part of the articles ( go READ THE WHOLE THING),

is the part that pertained to the title of this thread. In one case, the cops paid for a real john to go have 4 sessions at an AMP before they went in and busted the place. Interestingly, the case was dismissed by the judge and the prosecutors appeal was denied.

Afterward the troopers and the informant laughed about the man's escapades. Judge Steinberg ruled that the man did not need to have sex four times for police to gain enough evidence for search warrants and said a verbal agreement for sex acts would have sufficed.
"We expect more from the police, and demand that they conduct their investigations and utilize their resources without resorting to such embarrassing investigative techniques," the judge wrote. "No standards existed for this type of investigation, and some of the behavior by the participants was sophomoric."
He dismissed the case and prosecutors appealed, but last year Superior Court upheld the ruling.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10290...#ixzz12l22HOv9
ShysterJon's Avatar
nope. You can't sue the government, either. Originally Posted by cpi3000
You can sue the government. Hell, you can sue Frodo Baggins if you want. But in the case of suing the government, there's a good chance the government would be shielded by governmental immunity.
I understand that the undercover cop (in this case a female cop) is part of the "government" and suing her directly will put her in a spot of either she gets her dept involved in which case through the "freedom of information act" you can get all the undercover officers involved brought out to light or her dept tells her she has to go solo.

If you can somewhat embarrass the dept, often times they tend to settle out of court.

Judges will uphold the law but when cops tend to violate the citizens trust to make arrests..... not always.


Just saying that this part of like should be left alone. No-one gets hurt and we all should take a cue from Amsterdam
Valentine Michael's Avatar
I thought the most interesting part was that Pittsburgh makes 5-10 prostitution arrests per day. I've seen the Dallas pd site where they post pics of those arrested for prostitution and its closer to 5-10 a month. Is Dallas just not making near as many arrests or are they not posting pics of those arrested?

I also found the polite affidavits interesting. Wonder how I would go about finding police affidavits for my city?
Valentine Michael's Avatar
You can sue the government. Hell, you can sue Frodo Baggins if you want. But in the case of suing the government, there's a good chance the government would be shielded by governmental immunity. Originally Posted by ShysterJon
You can also bet that the government would provide a lawyer for any actions in the line of duty.
My question is to any legal minds is this: What if the cop was recorded in saying he was not a cop, was not assisting the cops etc...

If that is played in court indicating he would lie to get an arrest would not that tarnish his credibility and thus make his word against the lady shaky? Originally Posted by Spirit13
any LE can deny bring a cop, working with, or aiding a police officer. This also goes for Informants or CIs (Confidential Informants) as they will be listed in a PDR (Police Data Report)..
In NY the most full proof way to beat a bust is to actually 1) get him on recording (NOTE most stings will get tossed without a recording of some type. I think it is people v. Brown NY 2d that showed a police officers testamony was vacated by lack of recording WHEN he had a mic to call for back up.. *OR* 2) To do a physical "dick check" this will NOT stop the arrest but the case will get tossed when yuo can identify the LE in questions private area. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY DISTINGUISHING MARKS ETC.. NOT JUST TOUCHING IT!! JUST TOUCHING IT PUTS THAT AT YOUR WORD VERSUS HIS... Who would a jury believe in those circumstances..
You can also bet that the government would provide a lawyer for any actions in the line of duty. Originally Posted by Valentine Michael
Officers have the same immunity as DAs Etc which is called QUALIFIED immunity. THis means that generally they are immune from prosecution BUT ONLY when specificly in the direct line of their duties and within their jurisdiction.. ONLY A JUDGE has absolute immunity based on what he does on the bench in the course of a court case.. HE can actually make illegal rulings that CAN stand in the right circumstances.. A LE officer CANNOT go outside his authority and still expect immunity.. Nor act NOT under the "color of the law" and still expect immunity when he clearly does NOT have authority to do what he is trying to do... (IE male officer strip search a female suspect EXCEPT in EXTREME EMERGANCY, etc)
CRISTY-CUPPS's Avatar
I HAVE 2 WORDS FOR THE LE IN PA
"SCREW YOU"
I cant believe the LE put this much effort in a misdemeanor charge. Prostitution cant be that serious
how are we back to the same questions day after day?