Police informers and agents provocateurs: Accomplices or handmaidens of the law? Perspectives from the courts of eastern and southern africa

7. Conclusion The use of traps as an investigative technique has a long history. Today the police in many jurisdictions are resorting to them more and more to detect particularly complex crimes of an organized nature and, often, of a transnational character. Note should, however, be taken of the fact that the use of traps is not specifically provided for by statute and that it invariably involves violations of the law by those whose function it is to uphold and enforce the law. Moreover, as some of the cases discussed in this essay reveal, the use of traps may be very unfair to the accused to the extent of violating his or her constitutionally protected human rights. The courts have a bounden duty as watchdogs of those rights to be vigilant and to ensure that the police in their fight against crime do not turn into monsters. Professor of Law, University of Botswana, Gabarone, Botswana; LL.B., University of East Africa 1968; M.C.J., Howard University 1970; LL.M., New York University 1971; J.S.D., New York University 1975.