Sting operations often use a variety of tools, and techniques to capture the perpetrator. Some of them are used in different ways in the Internet space and I will try to discuss them briefly. These are:
· Disguise- As the name suggests, this technique involves entering into the world of the suspect, getting to know his habits, acquaintance and other necessary information to admit the guilt of the suspect, while not being exposed to detection by the tracked individual. In these cases, the police officer gets the relatively easy task of catching the suspect because these are usually assigned as theoretically simple and handled by lower level officers. Usually the officer takes the form of a drug dealer or a person who buys drugs in order to gain necessary information for further investigation. This type of search in the Internet space involves the creation of false accounts in order to collect information of various types through conversations as a person interested in the offer of the suspect. It can be collecting information about people accused of paedophilia and also collecting information about people accused of illegal trade in various types of goods.
· Introduction of third parties- The police in some cases have the habit of employing minors as their temporary accomplices as they are the most frequent victims of online threats such as abductions or paedophilia. Children and teenagers are chosen by abusers because of their credulity and lack of life experience which makes such a person an easy target. If a person is hired by the police to assist, a trap is always set under controlled conditions in order to catch the predator.
As you can see sting operations are mainly used as an auxiliary means in investigations, in their application are involved the government and other NGOs, and their duration is very wide, because we can meet cases that last for months but also those that can drag on for several years, because the collection of evidence takes a lot of time. Similarly, the costs of running such campaigns can be very high due to their length. It all also depends on the type of investigation being conducted, what method the organization takes has a big impact on the expenses, but cases conducted in the online space are usually nothing very expensive.
Bibliography:
Graeme R. Newman 2007. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Response Guides Series, Sting Operations, U.S Department of Justice [Accessed 4 March 2021] Available from: https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/Publications/cops-p134-pub.pdf
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