'Yes, because tougher sentences lower crime rates... right...'
Fine, have soft sentencing... but then don't bother with a 'sting' operation to put people in jail for such a short time!
'How about trying to help the guy get a job?'
No, it's far better to spend money on a sting operation in order to put people in jail for a few hours... that's the way to spend government money.
Let's face it this 'sting' operation is a joke... it apparently stings the same people, doesn't really take people off the street for very long and is wasting police resources that could be used elsewhere. While the article was focused on the 'dumb' criminal... I find this whole activity by the police to be even more dumberererer.