If going outside wasn't illegal, they wouldn't have been able to arrest her for it. They didn't have all the components of the crime, she was (apparently) intoxicated, but was not in public. They requested she complete the crime by stepping outside. All this ignores the dirty (if you don't like smarmy) business of arresting someone on their own property for PI.WildBill wrote:Asking someone to go outside isn't illegal. If they ordered her to go out, maybe. Maybe one of the LEOs or lawyers can give you a better answer. I just know that this isn't the first time this has happened. I believe it is standard practice.sjfcontrol wrote:Why not? They are asking the person to do something illegal, then arresting them for it. What's missing?WildBill wrote:No, it's not entrapment, but I believe that this happens often in this type of situation.sjfcontrol wrote:Ignoring the issue of medical problem v.s. intoxication -- they asked her to step out on her porch, then arrested her for public intoxication. Isn't that entrapment? They asked her to step outside just so they could get her in a "public" place (still on her own property), to make it illegal so they could arrest. Seems pretty smarmy to me.
P.S. I am not sure exactly what "smarmy" means, but I will concede that they acted swarmily.
smarmy isn't exactly the term I was reaching for, but at least it IS a word! (unlike swarmily)
Definitions of smarmy on the Web:
buttery: unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; "buttery praise"; "gave him a fulsome introduction"; "an oily sycophantic press agent"; "oleaginous hypocrisy"; "smarmy self-importance"; "the unctuous Uriah Heep"; "soapy compliments"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Falsely earnest, smug, or ingratiating
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smarmy
