Stings

Okay, so you know I'm a regular viewer of "Cops" -- though generally not when Robert's around. It's hard to hear the show when he's beside me, saying "Shoot 'im. Shoot the bastard!"

So today I'm watching the show, and on the episode, the cops are doing a sting. They have a bicycle worth a couple hundred bucks; they go out, leave it somewhere, then sit down and wait for someone to come along and take it.

Sounds amazingly stupid, doesn't it? But I've seen variations of this on at least four different episodes filmed in four different cities (one that particularly stands out was in New Orleans).

Give me a freakin' break. Is there not enough REAL crime going on out there? Do police departments have so little to do that they have to waste their manpower and budget on enticing people to commit petty crimes? New Orleans has such an outrageous crime problem; how could anyone in their right mind actually think a sting involving a bicycle is worthwhile?

I'm not fond of prositution stings, either. Granted, a good cop who has reason to bust a hooker will persuade her to become an informant. But busting hookers for nothing more than being hookers? Using manpower to arrest johns for being johns? They've got murders, rapes, assaults, muggings, burglaries, hit-and-runs, drug crimes, alcohol-related offenses, domestic violence . . . so much that's SOOO much more important than what two consenting adults do in cheap motel rooms or back seats.

Now, when the prostitute is underage, that's a whole 'nother story. I heard on television the other day that the average age when teenage girls get into the sex trade in this country is BEFORE they're teenagers: twelve years old. OMG! I didn't know nothin' 'bout sex when I was twelve years old. These are babies! They come from bad homes, of course; they're neglected, abused, molested, abandoned. Living on the streets having sex with total strangers is more appealing to them than living at home getting mistreated and having sex with relatives.

Almost as unbelievable is the fact that when foreign girls are found in the sex trade in the U.S., they're offered counseling, medical care, homes, job training because they're victims. When American girls are found in the sex trade in the U.S., they're arrested, because they're criminals, not victims. Huh??? Show me a twelve-year-old prostitute who CHOOSES to work the streets, who's not SOMEBODY'S victim.

And show me the sicko who pays to have sex with a twelve-year-old girl. He needs his ass kicked and his thang cut off.

Little girls out there walking the streets and being molested every day, and police departments are spending time and money setting up bike thefts. Holy shit. Rachel2:29 PM