Not a very well penned article really. It fails to define a "sting" operation and to differentiate it from an "undercover" operation. The arrest of the guy in the park is perfectly appropriate - the woman was not a police agent, and the police were not using her to target or entrap anyone. The guy appears to have been very, very, unfortunate, but them's the breaks - he did exactly what the police were attempting to stop: lewd behaviour in a public area.
By contrast, further along in the article, operation Lucky Bag sounds terrible. From my understanding of that, the police leave an expensive article sitting in a public subway, and then arrest whoever picks it up. If I were prosecuting such an arrest, I'd throw it out before I'd even finished reading the police report. I think any good samaritan who saw an iPod or something similar, sitting, apparently unused, on public transit, would pick it up. I know I would. That way I would prevent someone who wouldn't turn it in to the police from picking it up.
Mind you, given the article, I wouldn't be surprised if the writer misunderstood that last operation or just communicated it badly.
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