> B. He suddenly arrests the skateboarders for trespassing, much like a sting operation.

I mean, sting operations are a real thing, so...?

In your example it sounds stupid because obviously trespassing to skateboard is such an inconsequential crime. A cop should either should immediately tell people or just not give a shit, because who cares?

Within the context of a university, students cheating their way through every exam is obviously a bigger deal than trespassing for the purpose of exercise.

That said, I agree that just immediately telling people (and then paying closer attention to possible cheating thereafter) is probably the better route, but in the article, they stated they didn't notice the cheating going on until it'd been going on for a while, because they just hadn't paid attention to the chat group.

The professor could've handled things better if they'd been more aware and responsive from the start, but still, the lion's share of the blame rests with the people who chose to cheat.

A large part of any syllabus is a description of the academic integrity policy. Most universities even mention it during orientation. Most all my exams had "by signing, I agree to..." next to where you write your name. Universities care a lot about cheating. It even makes the news.

The cop is always visible, the sign is clearly posted, but they still trespass. Most got less-than-minimum sentences anyway.