The Life and Dangers of Undercover Police Work: Draft, Review and Reflect
By: James Fritsch
ENG102 Class #13267
Professor Susan Rockwell
Within every police department there is a major goal at hand, deter criminal activity. Everyday men and women in law enforcement exercise different strategies to accomplish this goal. There are many ways to deter criminal activity. A couple different strategies would be community policing, criminal investigation, criminal databases, etc. There is one strategy that is the most dangerous yet most compelling in criminal investigation; undercover police work. Going undercover involves many different angles that must be approached to gain the trust of someone or some group that is being investigated. There are also many different aspects to take into consideration when dealing with the safety of a undercover officer as well as putting together a strong case to prosecute a criminal or criminal group. There are many aspects to consider when pursuing undercover work by not only the officer wanting to be an undercover, but also the agency selecting undercover agents.
An undercover agent must be a good actor. A UC (undercover) must be able to blend in with his or her environment in any criminal investigation. If a UC cannot adapt to their environment, they could easily be picked out as a UC and their lives could be put in jeopardy. The job of the undercover officer is to "make cases", in other words, to gather enough information to enable a successful prosecution. The purpose is not so much to obtain proof of criminal intent, the personalities or lifestyles involved, but to obtain physical evidence (by purchasing drugs or other contraband) and become the complainant seeking an arrest warrant. Once the warrant is served, the officer's identity is usually revealed. Ordinarily, a large number of arrests are made because the undercover officer has maximized their contacts as much as possible (e.g. with the drug or crime ring) on their own or by "converting" one or more of their contacts into informants. A typical three-month operation may yield as many as 60 arrest warrants. (Stevens, Mark. "Police Undercover Work." Syllabus for JUS 205. Stevens. Mark. LtCol U.S. Marines (RET). Fresno, CA: Stevens, 2004. Web.).
Physical appearance is one of the most important things when potentially being selected for undercover operations. My cousin, whose name I will not mention, is currently an undercover narcotics agent with a police department that will go unnamed. Throughout my research, I had the opportunity to speak with my cousin regarding certain aspects of UC work. He explained to me that the selection process of UC's is very in depth. Everything is taken into consideration. Physical appearance, background history, lifestyle, prior arrests, even what a UC could potentially be made up to look like physically.
My cousin explained to me, in some cases, UC's will be selected right out of the academy because their face has not been seen on the streets as a police officer and they will have less of a chance be spotted as a cop. This made a lot of sense because as I mentioned earlier, community policing is a major strategy in deterring criminal activity. Community policing involves interacting with the public to solve problems within the community and deter criminal activity. If a police officer is well known within a community, it may be difficult for he or she to be effective as a UC operative.
Once an investigation is established and the undercover agents are in place, the next step is establishing contact with the alleged criminals being investigated. This is where informants come into play. Informants are usually criminals who have been caught and arrested for a certain criminal act. These criminals usually "cut a deal" with the arresting agency to get their UC's into the realm of other criminal activities to start investigations and later gain criminal prosecutions. Once a UC has established contact, it is now up to the UC to gain the trust of the person or group being investigated. A UC's fake identity is established well before an investigation; fake name, ID, credit cards, birth certificate, etc. Once a UC has established contact and gained the trust of those being investigated, it is up to the UC to maintain his or her cover throughout the entire investigation.
Once "inside" with their undercover role, the dangers for that UC increase tremendously. In actuality, that UC is a "fake" criminal, correct? In this case, not only is a UC's life in danger if the criminals find out they are police, but other law enforcement officials might not be aware of a UC's status and they might be mistaken as actual criminals. In one case, a UC in New York City was shot and killed by a fellow officer who was unaware of the other officers' UC status. He was mistaken for a criminal involved in a criminal act during an undercover investigation. Officer Omar J. Edwards, who was off duty, was shot to death in May by Officer Andrew P. Dunton, who mistook him for a criminal (Schmidt, Michael. "Report Highlights Special Risk of Undercover Police Work." The New York Times., 30 Nov. 2009. Web). Law enforcement agencies have taken necessary steps to increase training regarding undercover operations to deter such incidences from occurring. However, these incidences will always be a concern with the department, law enforcement officers and the UC's themselves.
Criminal investigations that utilize undercover can range anywhere from everyday minor drug purchases to major gang infiltrations. One man, William Queen, infiltrated one of America's most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs; The Mongols. His undercover investigation spread over a two year period. After establishing his UC identity as Billy St. John, he participated in the selling and purchasing of weapons and drugs for the gang. In his two year investigation, Billy St. John was promoted to a full-patch member of the Mongols and was later promoted to the gangs National Treasurer.
At the end of the investigation, William Queen had to make a life-changing decision. He had to reveal his undercover status to the gang to save another gang members life. The Mongols were under the impression that another member had turned them all in to the authorities. While William Queen was in the back of an ATF vehicle after being secured by his agency, he was on the phone with another Mongol who was unaware of William Queens' cover. "Listen to me carefully. He didn't roll! You know how I know he didn't roll? Cause it was me. I'm an agent for the ATF. You hear me? So you need to call whoever's in charge of that murder detail and tell 'em the truth. Billy St. John rolled." (Queen, William., Under and Alone. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.). That day, William Queen had to make a decision not only as a UC, but as a law enforcement official and a human being. He revealed his UC status to save a innocent man's life. After his testimony at the trail, convictions were earned by the investigation that ranged anywhere from five years in federal prison to life sentences without parole. William Queen is one of the most successful undercover agents in American history.
There is, and will always be, a controversial side to undercover police work. And that is what the UC's do while undercover. The illegal acts that they partake in while undercover. There is a fine-line when working undercover. A UC can partake in illegal activity to gain evidence for prosecution during an investigation. However, a UC cannot initiate the illegal act, that is what's called "entrapment." Entrapment is influencing someone to commit an illegal act to gain arrest or prosecution. Entrapment is illegal.
Unlike an impulsive or opportunistic crime, some crimes involve secretive, complex, and consensual activities. The manufacture of methamphetamine, the bribery of local officials, food stamp fraud, prostitution, dog-fighting rings, and, at one time, homosexuality, are examples of such offenses, and they are difficult, if not impossible, to investigate if the police must wait for victim complaints, witness statements, or physical evidence. If these crimes are to be prosecuted successfully, then, the police must infiltrate criminal ranks or play willing victims. While undercover operations may sometimes seek merely to observe criminal behavior (surveillance operations) or to prevent crime from occurring (preventative operations), many operations involve the active encouragement of crime commission (facilitative operations), either through emboldening suspects-short of entrapment-or by weakening potential victims (Joh, Elizabeth E., "Breaking the Law to Enforce It: Undercover Police Participation in Crime." Publisher: Stanford Law. 2010. Web.). As part of his or her job, a UC is allowed to partake in illegal activity to gain evidence. However, there are many rules and regulations put on a UC that state what he or she cannot be involved in. A UC cannot be involved in any violent act toward civilians during an investigation. A UC is a law enforcement official and must maintain public safety while maintaining their UC roll. Public safety is first and foremost to any law enforcement official.
Women who are involved in UC work have much more to prepare for when going undercover. A lot of the time women are going undercover with men who are much bigger and stronger than them as well as being much more violent and dangerous. Women UC's are also more subjected to sexual violin by criminals while undercover. Although female UC's are well trained in these areas, the threat of these acts are always present.
A female UC has much more to prepare for when pursuing undercover work. It's tough enough being a female on a police force full of male officers, but what is tougher is taking on non-traditional assignments within this non-traditional occupation. When I say "undercover drug operator," we ordinarily think of a male officer. We can even envision what he would look like with his long hair, full beard and 'stashe, grubby clothing, a big chain attached to his wallet and lots of big silver rings. His fingers would be stained with tobacco and he would smell like day old alcohol--like he's just been on a bender. Now that is an undercover operator. It's not too often you think of a female in this position. Long hair--yeah, so what. Rings on her fingers--no big deal. And as for the beard and 'stashe--forget it! Interestingly enough, with a little makeup and some creative thinking, a once beautiful young police officer can be transformed into an excellent undercover cop--track marks on her arms, black circles under her eyes, dry lips, a couple of tattoos, hair greasy and matted. And of course, an interesting choice of clothing would top it all off. But it is not only the appearance of a female officer that stands in the way of being an accepted undercover cop; it is the work itself. (Sergeant Grant, Susan., "Going Undercover." Publisher: Women in Policing Contributor. 2007. Web.).
In conclusion, there are many different aspects to take into consideration before attempting to pursue undercover work. Not to sound cliche, but you have to ask yourself, "Do you have what it takes?" Undercover police work is a life and death situation. You are face to face with dangerous people everyday. At the end of the day, a UC is making the ultimate sacrifice to maintain public safety and rid the community of criminals and criminal activity. This is the goal of every law enforcement official. But, there are varying degrees of accomplishing this goal. Arguably, undercover police agents have the most dangerous job in all of law enforcement. They are the unseen heroes that go unheard of as well. Yet, they are like guardian angels, you don;y see them or hear them but you know they are there protecting us.
Works Cited
1) (Stevens, Mark. "Police Undercover Work." Syllabus for JUS 205. Stevens. Mark. LtCol U.S. Marines (RET). Fresno, CA: Stevens, 2004. Web.).
2) Schmidt, Michael. "Report Highlights Special Risk of Undercover Police Work." The New York Times., 30 Nov. 2009. Web.
3) Queen, William., Under and Alone. New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.
4) Joh, Elizabeth E., "Breaking the Law to Enforce It: Undercover Police Participation in Crime." Publisher: Stanford Law. 2010. Web.
5) Sergeant Grant, Susan., "Going Undercover." Publisher: Women in Policing Contributor. 2007. Web.
3 areas of interest regarding my writings:
1) Dictation
2) Citation
3) Delivery (Grabbing the readers' attention)
