Thanks KK. I thought undercover cops usually have to assault or kill someone first to prove they are not a cop. Just joking!
I don't really know anything about undercover cops, but that job sounds like it's not a job to take lightly. When a LEO is working undercover and they have to commit a crime, what exemptions do they have now? In the vein of allowing them to commit prostitution legally, do they also have legal exemptions for committing other crimes while undercover? Do they have exemptions for taking drugs while being undercover? For bank robbery? For assaulting someone? When someone goes undercover, don't they have some kind of internal procedure in place to deal with this kind of thing already?
I wonder how often undercover cops are told to screw a prostitute at the threat of death to prove they are not undercover? The scenario that sounds more plausible in this case is an undercover cop screwing a prostitute before busting them for prostitution.
Up to where is the line drawn? My concern is... How much powers do we legally grant to the government before we have crossed the line of excessive government powers (vs affirming the rights of the individual)?
Just a comment about other crimes committed and my two cents....
As an example...FBI Special Agent Joseph Pistone infiltrated the Mafia’s Bonanno family and would have likely became a made member but they wanted him to murder a Capo, which he got out of and later contracted to murder another Capo’s son. They wanted him to participate in a mafia hit to prove his loyalty to the family before becoming a made man. At this point he was pulled for obvious reasons after six years of being undercover. During his six years with the mob he committed numerous crimes on a regular basis. His only restrictions were he couldn’t commit crimes of violence.
Several mobsters were killed when the FBI revealed that Pistone was an FBI agent but in the end, the evidence Pistone collected led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of Mafia members. So was committing non-violent crimes worth it? I believe so.
My point is sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze and it really depends on the scope and context of the operation. Now getting a BJ from a streetwalker should obviously be prohibited but by internal policy, not by law. Making a blanket law prohibited this in all situations across the board, with no exceptions, just shows your cards. IMO what law enforcement agencies can or cannot do should be properly vetted and become policy but should not be public knowledge. When it is public knowledge, the criminal element knows the break point and can generally ascertain who is a LEO in short order. In the end, advantage goes to the criminals.