In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather evidence of the suspect's wrongdoing.

Examples

Purchasing illegal drugs to catch a supplier

Deploying a bait car (also called a honey trap) to catch an auto thief

Setting up a seemingly vulnerable honeypot computer to lure and gain information about crackers.

Posing as someone who is seeking child pornography to catch a supplier

Posing as a supplier of child pornography to lure a child molester

Posing as a child in a chat room to lure a child molester

Police arranging someone under the legal drinking age to ask an adult to buy alcoholic beverage for him or herhttp://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1878103&nav=9qrxNETb

Police also may ask a minor to attempt to purchase liquor.

Ethical concerns

Sting operations are fraught with ethical concerns over whether they constitute entrapment. Law-enforcement may have to be careful not to ''provoke'' the commission of a crime by someone who would not normally be inclined to do so. Additionally, in the process of such operations, the police often engage in the same so-called crimes, often victimless, such as buying or selling contraband, soliciting prostitutes, etc. In common law jurisdictions, the defendant may invoke the defense of entrapment.

Sting operations in popular culture

Recently, Larry Craig, a Republican senator from Idaho, was caught in a sex sting operation at a Minnesota airport. Craig was purportedly soliciting sex in a men's bathroom when he was arrested by an undercover policemanhttp://www.washblade.com/2007/9-14/news/national/11226.cfm In August of 2007, he filed a guilty plea for disorderly conduct. He professed to have been wrongly pressured into entering the plea, however, and on September 10th filed a request to withdraw his guilty pleahttp://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-09-09-craig-lawyer_N.htm. His petition for withdrawal was rejected by the Minnesota court system, although Craig remains steadfast in his insistence to finish out the rest of his term even amid the scandal and allegationshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_go_co/craig_republicans_2;_ylt=AvuCbpfRKaaBKdwAQ7bwrIYE1vAI. A Senate ethics committee will likely be formed to investigate his behavior.

Several novels and short stories by science fiction author Philip K. Dick, such as ''A Scanner Darkly'', revolve around sting operations that have gotten out of hand.

Season Three of the TV series ''24'' has its entire main plot focused on a sting operation and its unforeseen consequences.

In the ''American Sonic the Hedgehog'' issues from Archie Comics, the Freedom Fighters were involved a sting operation against several of their foes.