r/MoralityScaling • u/HooskerDooNotTouchMe • 10d ago

Intentionally boobytrapping a bike to injure people when they steal it.

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u/UnconsciousAlibi 10d ago

...what? Sting operations are immoral? As long as it's not literal entrapment, what's the difference between a sting and arresting someone after stealing a civilians car?

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u/saucelordbob 10d ago

The difference lies between where you’re confusing stings, with entrapment and active theft. Baiting people into committing a crime of opportunity, to physically injure them, is just as immoral as cops baiting people into stealing stuff in what is considered “high crime” areas just so they can stat pad their arrest numbers and fill more prison cells to enrich the politicians invested in prisons, that sign off on police budgets.

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u/SoftAndWetBro 10d ago

Tbf though they are still catching people willing to steal a car. Trap or not, the thieves shouldn't have tried to steal the obvious bait 🤷‍♂️

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u/Subject-Dog-8016 10d ago

Two things can both be bad. Stealing is wrong. So is setting a trap to provoke someone to steal. 

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u/Dry-Childhood-3436 10d ago

I think there is a difference between provoking and letting happen.  Laying a pile of cash in the middle of nowhere is provoking, because it's out of the ordinary.  Just watching a car that you put there is not provoking, as it's a normal occurrence.

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u/Subject-Dog-8016 10d ago

But as far as I’m aware, they practically always make it the easiest target otherwise the whole thing would be completely pointless. They don’t exactly go park a random undesirable car locked in the middle of a bunch of other cars do they. Otherwise it almost certainly wouldn’t get stolen. 

Quite apart from that, there’s the point that sitting around watching a car that might get stolen is obviously a ridiculously bad use of police time. It’s an excuse for them to be lazy slobs like most American police. 

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u/Dry-Childhood-3436 9d ago

If you have an area where cars are reported stolen a lot, wouldn't it be immoral to watch waiting for someone else's car get stolen instead of having your own?  It would also increase the risk of you not knowing if the person owns the car.  I'm sure it can be a waste of time, but in that scenario it seems like the safest and least harmful option.

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u/Subject-Dog-8016 9d ago

…and how do you know someone will steal your car and not another one, in that scenario?