# Question about cops breaking the law. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603 "2017-12-16T02:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/1 "2017-12-16T02:42:00Z")
It is illegal to sell alcohol to someone under 21. So as part of an investigation they’ll send someone under 21 to buy beer at a store. But wait. Buying alcohol is also illegal if you’re under 21 (if not in your jurisdiction please don’t fight the hypothetical). How can cops break the law or induce someone else to in order to create another crime? ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/2 "2017-12-16T03:29:06Z")
There are exceptions that allow law enforcement activity. The police are not breaking the law when an underage enforcement agent attempts to buy alcohol. For example, in PA, [Title 18 § 6308](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/18/00.063.008.000..HTM), section (e) is titled “Exception for compliance checks” and details the requirements for an under-21 “officer, employee or intern of the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement of the Pennsylvania State Police” to legally conduct enforcement operations. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/3 "2017-12-16T05:07:16Z")
In South Carolina, the law is Title 61 (Alcoholic Beverages), Chapter 4 (Beer, Ale, Porter, and Wine), Article 1 (General Provisions): > [@South Carolina Code of Laws](#): > > SECTION 61-4-90. Transfer of beer or wine for underage person’s consumption. > > (A) It is unlawful for a person to transfer or give to a person under the age of twenty-one years for the purpose of consumption of beer or wine in the State, unless the person under the age of twenty-one is recruited and authorized by a law enforcement agency to test a person’s compliance with laws relating to the unlawful transfer or sale of beer and wine to a minor. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction: > > (1) for a first offense, must be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than three hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both; and > > (2) for a second or subsequent offense, must be fined not less than four hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both. A similar section applies to the law regarding hard liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/4 "2017-12-16T05:54:22Z")
Why use alcohol as an example? Police either buy illegal drugs or have others buy drugs and observe them all the time. Or pay for prostitutes. Or accept money as a fake hitman. It’s not legal to buy illegal drugs, or pay a prostitute, or enter a conspiracy to commit murder. But it is legal to do those things in the furtherence of an investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/5 "2017-12-16T06:52:47Z")
There are many things law enforcement people are permitted to do in the course of their duties that a normal citizen is not allowed to do. For example, when pursuing a traffic violator, a cop car can speed, run stop signs, go thru red lights, etc. And stop on the road, with flashing lights. And block traffic, and PIT another vehicle, etc. And speed to the scene of an incident. And use force to restrain someone, and pull them out of their car without their consent, and haul them off to the jail, without facing kidnapping charges. We as a society have decided that the people we appoint to enforce our laws can break some laws in order to arrest criminals. But we have limits on that: ‘entrapment’, ‘excessive’ force, evidentuary exclusion, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/6 "2017-12-16T15:30:49Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > We as a society have decided that the people we appoint to enforce our laws can break some laws in order to arrest criminals. But we have limits on that: ‘entrapment’, ‘excessive’ force, evidentuary exclusion, and so forth. Since those exceptions are written into the law there is no breaking of the law to begin with. There are exceptions and affirmative defenses that are written into various laws that cover people and circumstances other than law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cops-breaking-the-law/804603/7 "2017-12-16T17:58:16Z")
Should be noted that there is a difference between what an LEO can do in the line of official duties, and what someone used by law enforcement can do. For example, in the statute I cited above, the people being exempted are not LEOs, but those people hired by law enforcement agencies to do the test buys.