Ever hear of police trying to get teens to wear wires?

[AmericanGirl]

I was talking to my therapist about everything going on with difficult child. He's really great because he worked with the drug court and does DUI classes so he knows a lot about SA, etc.

He told me that the local courts here often asked teenagers/young adults to wear wires and make drug buys in exchange for dropped charges, reduced sentences, etc. That really surprised me. I grew up in a time when police recruits would pretend to be students, etc. I haven't ever heard of them actually using young, likely addicted kids to do this.

Is it common in other areas? The whole thing seems fishy to me.

 

[Signorina]

I don't know about wires - but I do know that we've had quite a few older teens "flipped" to become informants - 3 local pds just busted a huge supply chain using their help.

I don't think the pd would put underage kids in harms way...but I don't know

 

[InsaneCdn]

The drug industry has become more sophisticated and more wary. So, it's harder for an "outsider", like a police student, to really get "inside" and get the links they need etc.

I don't know about using underage kids for this... I do know that it is done with adults. If they are "wired", then they don't have to take the witness stand?

 

[DammitJanet]

I dont think they could use an underage kid. Just doesnt make logical sense. The liability if something happened to the kid if something happened to them would be huge. Now if they were adults, yeah I guess I can see it happening. Of course, I have never heard of anyone even being asked to flip in my area. But then I dont know anyone who is high enough to flip. Someone with just a joint or so isnt going to know a big enough fish.

 

[DDD]

Just a couple of years ago the police did that with a 17 year old college freshman. They "lost sight of her" and she is dead. That was in north Florida and, rightfully, there was a huge lawsuit filed by her family. Locally I completely know that they "turn" kids all the time. The kid I used to refer to as EV (for evil friend) is a confidential informant, has done alot of big drug deals and stolen from people and homes for ten or twelve years. He has one misdemeanor charge...period, zip.

I used to believe in 'good guys" and "bad guys". Now I've been involved with law enforcement I totally know that you can not trust anyone. Very sad. DDD

 

[Signorina]

As kind of an aside to this...

when H and I went to speak to the psychiatrist about our parenting/ coping strategies for difficult child (after he moved out the last time) - we focused mostly on practical possibilities (what if he calls for money, what if he wants to move home, what if he gets sick etc) The psychiatrist was very clear that we should not provide difficult child ANY money...UNLESS HE OWES A DRUG DEALER. In fact I think his words were "If he owes his dealer; pay up."

That struck this sheltered Catholic school girl as very odd. I mean - the drug dealer would be the LAST person I would want to pay. Of course, I said such to H in the car. And he set me straight - drug dealer would kill difficult child - so that's the ONLY person we pay if difficult child asks. When I related the story to my (75yo) mom on the phone - she said "Even I know that. Of course you pay off the drug dealer..."

 

[susiestar]

Twenty years ago the nephew of my mom's bff got caught with drugs and the charges were hugely inflated so that he would wear a wire. It was not a one time thing - they kept threatening him with life in prison even though it was a very small amt of drugs. He got beaten up so badly that he spent more than a week in the hospital before they let him stop. It ws scary and sickening to hear him so scared and his family even more scared. The nephew was barely 16 at the time.

It happens a lot and can be very scary with tragic results.

 

[FlowerGarden]

Here they tell kids being arrested, that they will drop the charges against them if they will give up names. The police target young adults whom they know have had drug problems as young teens. They arrest them and get the young adults to work as informants. They have the young adult set up a buy and then the police go undercover and sit and watch the buy. I used to have great respect for our police officers until I have had to deal with some of them with my difficult child. My friend has had the same experiences with her son and the police. When I was younger, we were always told that a police officer was someone you could trust and would help you. Boy, have a difficult child and you find out you can't trust many of them.

 

[DDD]

I have a son who is a big wig in law enforcement. Although he, of course, says nothing publicly he has quietly told the parents in our family to teach their kids to be extremely polite and differential to policemen and absolutely do not offer any information without counsel. Our gs was "messed with" verbally, lied to and even was taken into custody as a juvie while my husband sat in an adjoining room waiting to take him home. I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing that the public still perceives law enforcement as a trustworthy group. It's tricky telling your teen "don't trust the cops or the attorneys" when you want them to respect our system of justice. Very tricky indeed. DDD