It seems to me that when a lady also offers outcall, as well as incall, the liklihood of a setup operation, flip, or sting would be low.
Am I wrong, or does this not offer a modicum of increased safety ?

Most LE likes to have stings on their turf, thus incall is always a situation that calls for caution.

However, LE has been known to also raid outcalls using decoys or whatever.

The best bet is to always see well reviewed providers.

(still not a lawyer)

Mr Fisher is right about using reviewed providers.  
I've never imagined LE putting that much effort into individual solicitation bust and they will never send a female officer into something alone so that presents problems trying to do an outcall sting; it ties up multiple officers and her back up has to stay out of sight.  All in all, its too hard to do for practical purposes.  They tend to want mulitple arrests in as short a period of time as possible in a controlled setting.  Thats why their street corner stings and hotel room stings are their favorites.  
I've contended before that in my opinion the safest way for a first meeting with a provider is for her to do outcall to you in a hotel room you rent.  Most preferably in a hotel with a bar so you can meet there first.  Gives you a chance to try and spot any 'back up' she would have with her if she was LE and if she were to start pushing you to solicit her , plenty of time to say "We seem to have made a mistake here" and walk away.  Never discuss money in person nor answer questions about what you are expecting.  
mvr

However for the exact same reasons it is also the most dangerous for the provider.

The easiest and most efficient way for LE to run a sting on providers is to set up a sting at a hotel. The cost of renting two adjacent rooms is much more cost effective than any other method. It is the reason many providers will not provide outcall to hotels.

Of course the advice given was from a hobbyists perspective, I am sure that if a provider was asking the question the advice would be much different.

Perhaps just rumor, but I've heard more ladies are flipping and doing setups when they are on the LE radar.
Anyone corroborate?

There have been 3 sets of arrests in the past week.

I don’t understand your logic or lack thereof.  If LE can setup a sting in a motel and have either prostitutes or Johns respond to the motel where LE is in total control, why would they want to get a prostitution to flip as you call it?  Either you don’t understand the law or you have been listening to too many “experts.”  

To begin with prostitution is a misdemeanor which means LE has to witness the crime to make an arrest.  That means for all practical purposes one of the parties has to be LE.  Otherwise how could LE state they witnessed the act?  When LE operates a strip club they witness the exchange of money between the customer and the stripper after which time she performs various sex acts with the customer.  When that happens they arrest and cite both the customer and the stripper for lewd conduct.  The reason they don’t arrest for prostitution is because they cannot testify what was in the minds of the customer and the stripper when he paid her.

The same rule applies for stopping a guy leaving a motel where LE has information a prostitute is operating.  There is nothing LE can do in the way of an arrest because they didn’t witness the crime.  In reality you could tell them you just paid for a piece of ass and they could not arrest you. It would be like walking up the a cop on the corner and telling him you just failed to stop for a stop sign.  Not being able to arrest you does not mean that you cannot be charged by the concerned prosecutor.  LE could obtain your information including your statement and forward the information to the concerned prosecutor who in turn could file charges.  If that happened you would be subpoenaed to appear in court.  Of course getting a conviction is a whole other story.  

The one thing that seems to be missing in this entire dialog is the fact that prostitution is a misdemeanor.  It is more of a nuisance than a crime as far as LE is concerned.  If they can keep the street walkers off the street and run an occasional sting then they are happy.  The citizens don’t see public disorder and an occasional sting controls the solicitation problem.  They are not going to devote any more resources to prostitution enforcement than they have to. As a matter of fact, most of the stings involve a female police decoy standing on the street luring customers to a motel room where they are arrested.  They also use Craig’s List to advertise for in-call at motels as I found out back in 2004.  

Every once in awhile the LA Times will run an article about prostitution and what the police are doing to combat the problem.  The enforcement techniques are always the same. I am referring to Los Angeles. I don’t know how LE operates in other cities but I imagine it is very similar.  

The safest way to hobby is to stick with well reviewed provider and you should be alright.  

You qualified your post to be applicable to LA.  I cannot comment on that... however - "I don’t know how LE operates in other cities but I imagine it is very similar. "

There are actually cities which have departments that are devoted specifically to this.  See the Chicago board, for example.

Don't assume every city is the same in their tactics, it's simply not true.