Keene Police Entrapment

[Kat Kanning]

What do you think about this?

One felony count each of attempted felonious sexual assault and prohibited use of a computer against Michael J. Connors, 43, of Greenville was dismissed at the request of Assistant Cheshire County Attorney Kathleen G. O?Reilly.

He was accused of attempting to seduce a person he thought was a 14-year-old via the Internet. The ?14-year-old? was actually a Keene police detective.

[error]

I think the Keene police should stop watching what other police departments do.

As for the charge itself, I've always thought it was silly to charge someone with trying to have sex with a nonexistent person.

[Braddogg]

I suspect that in a Free Market situation, pre-emptive policing will be much appreciated.  Stings catching potential rapists will probably exist, because the emphasis will be on prevention rather than after-the-fact "justice".  Should a 35-year-old having consentual sex with a 14-year-old girl be illegal?  Eh, that's really a hard question.  The power disparity is real, and it's probably immoral for a 35-year-old to take advantage of that disparity, but it's not an evil thing on the order of, say, rape.  I wonder, why were the charges dismissed?  Could you link the rest of the article?

[KBCraig]

What do you think about this?

I'm surprised the charges were dropped. These are the kinds of cases that are easy to prove, and make prosecutors look "tough on sex crimes" (especially when they're "protecting children").

When we're paying police to chat online, I'd say we've got too many police officers.

[d_goddard]

I suspect that in a Free Market situation, pre-emptive policing will be much appreciated.

Yes and no.
In a free-market situation, people might be perfectly willing to play at being 14-year old girls (I know libertarian magician Penn would be happy to oblige). When they found pervs, they'd just place their contact information, and a transcript of the chat sessions, on the internet.

[slim]

I think that proves that the Keene police don't have enough to do and the staff needs to be cut. I would suggest a initial cut of 50% if they still don't have enough cut by 50% again and again until they get the point that they should be investigating violent crimes.

[freeman4liberty]

I suspect that in a Free Market situation, pre-emptive policing will be much appreciated.

Yes and no.
In a free-market situation, people might be perfectly willing to play at being 14-year old girls (I know libertarian magician Penn would be happy to oblige). When they found pervs, they'd just place their contact information, and a transcript of the chat sessions, on the internet.

I think honor rating might drop too.  I also think that there would be more than one honor rating for each person.  This act should cause some honor ratings to drop.  You could choose which honor rating most reflects your values.