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sonamdrukpa
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What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop?
#18727430 - 08/19/13 12:34 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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slate.com This question originally appeared on Quora.
Answer by Bob Cooke, retired special agent, California Dept of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement:
I'd have to describe working undercover as the most thrilling job I've ever had. Sometimes, it was also the most boring: long hours; days, weeks, or months of surveillance. Most police officers never get to work undercover during their careers. It just isn't suited for everyone who wears the police uniform. A lot of great cops enjoy working in uniform or other investigations. I appreciate them for what they do. Those are vitally important roles that require other skill-sets
When I was first selected to work undercover, I had to buy an entire new wardrobe. I looked, acted, walked, and talked like a cop pretty much since the time I was 16 and became a police cadet. I identified with cops and the style of clothing they wore both on-duty and off-duty. I had never used any drugs as a civilian or when I was in school. Pretty much I was as "straight arrow" as they came.
I was picked because I arrested hundreds of "dope fiends" (old term used to describe heroin addicts) and PCP users. My arrest stats looked good, and I was an aggressive pursuer of the suppliers in the drug and violence trade.
I was used to walking into a room, and when people looked at me, they knew I was a cop, whether on-duty or off-duty. I had to change my perception in order to blend in and work undercover. I needed self confidence for the role of an undercover cop (UC). That meant wearing clothes and a hair style that was more contemporary. I did what a lot of young "narcs" did. I let my hair and beard grow out so that I wouldn't look so much like a cop.
After a while, I realized that it didn't matter about the facial hair and longer hair. What mattered was how I could get close to someone involved in illegal activities. Usually that was accomplished with the assistance of a confidential informant (CI). Informants are either working for money or because they have a case pending against them and they want to mitigate their sentence. CIs will either purchase drugs or guns for you or they will introduce an undercover (UC) officer/agent to the drug or firearms dealer. It is best to have the UC make the buys or the CI will have to testify in open court.
I remember the first time a CI took me to buy some crank (methamphetamine powder). My cover team consisted of one person following us to another town. I wasn't aware that my partner lost sight of me within five minutes or that the body wire wasn't transmitting. We didn't have cell phones back then. I drove the CI to the address, but we were met by a brother of the guy I was supposed to meet. The small-time dealer thought he recognized me and even knew my true name, my personal vehicle, and my wife's name. But he still did the deal. The next day, I discovered that another agency was investigating this dealer's family for a bombing that had just occurred at a car dealership. His brothers lived in the same house where I met him.
Team work was the biggest element I learned as working undercover. I worked as a UC for more than 20 years. Having a dependable team was imperative. One time, early in my career, I was in a hotel room with armed suspects negotiating a two-kilo cocaine deal. I told them I would not be outnumbered, and that two of them would have to wait in an adjacent bar. The remaining suspect trusted me enough that he showed me his gun. He showed me the two kilos (roughly 4.5 pounds) and my heart pounded for a number of reasons: No. 1, we didn't intend to pay them loose the money for these drugs; No. 2, I had moved to another hotel room and didn't know if my surveillance team knew where I was; and No. 3, I wasn't even sure that my body transmitter was functioning. Right after I saw the two kilos, I told the suspect that the cash was in my car and I was going to go and retrieve it. I instructed him to wait there and I'd return with $78,000. Cocaine was very expensive back then.
When I walked out to my car, I gave one of my arrest team members the "bust signal" and asked for the bag that was supposed to contain the cash. He told me to take a bag from the trunk. I grabbed the bag and walked back to the hotel room. I couldn't tell if my team was near or not. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline was amped up. When I knocked on the door, the suspect opened it, and I ran forward and knocked him down yelling "Police! Expletive expletive." My arrest team was right there on my heels. Everything went fine and we arrested everyone involved that afternoon. Good thing, because I grabbed the wrong bag. I had my partner's personal bag that had his duty gun, gun belt, bullet proof vest, and handcuffs. No, he wasn't very prepared.
Times changed, and we stopped doing business like that as we learned those operations were costing the lives of good men and women everywhere. We learned safer ways of conducting take-downs and arrests. A UC should not be placed in any more danger that can be managed. Over the years, I was lucky enough to survive other violent situations where I was held at gun and knife point. We manage the risks by employing better tactics and policies.
As I spent more time working as a UC, I conducted undercover operations and "sold" chemicals used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, in one case, enough to cook 35 to 40 pounds. We never actually allowed the process to finish in order to keep more drugs from hitting the streets. The safe take-downs for these cases were complex in nature and involved multiple agencies including the local police, sheriffs, DEA, and our state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
One of my first partners from the early '80s was a great investigator and worked awesomely as a UC. One day, he came to work and said he was leaving to go back to his former agency and wear a uniform again. I asked why. We were great friends and worked hand in glove on scores of undercover cases. He said, "I have to. I don't get scared anymore." While undercover, one must learn to conceal fear, anxiety, anticipation and channel the adrenaline. I'm proud of what we accomplished. I'm fortunate to be here and be able to tell my stories. But lot of great men and women died enforcing this state and country's drug laws. We will never forget their sacrifice.
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boneynerd
Mushway! EatFresh!



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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#18727566 - 08/19/13 01:02 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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thats what it feels like hope they feel like that too
-------------------- "Your mama's grow was so contaminated, the shroomery got trich." -SpitballJediS "your a female, no one woulda cared you were naked,hell probably made someone's day, but I pull my balls out on a bus and im the bad guy.." -Bishlap
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Old Pokey
Stranger and Stranger



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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: boneynerd] 1
#18727575 - 08/19/13 01:05 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's soft. That's what it's like when you're a dick.
-------------------- It's all mythology...
Edited by Old Pokey (08/19/13 03:52 PM)
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AbstraKt_I_Am


Registered: 12/21/10
Posts: 1,898
Loc: Abroad.
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: Old Pokey]
#18727809 - 08/19/13 02:13 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Old Pokey said: Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's soft. That's what it's like when your a dick.

Or bacon.
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Repertoire89
Cat



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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#18727822 - 08/19/13 02:15 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___________
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DebuteMachine

Registered: 09/29/06
Posts: 6,457
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: Repertoire89] 1
#18728044 - 08/19/13 02:58 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Article sucks. Hope the guy dies a horrible drug related death.
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Maito
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: Repertoire89] 1
#18728259 - 08/19/13 03:38 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
: and I ran forward and knocked him down yelling "Police! Expletive expletive."
What a square.
-------------------- You can't spell 'healthcare' without 'thc'
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Synthe
Gatorade me, bitch!



Registered: 11/10/12
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: Maito]
#18728432 - 08/19/13 04:16 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
and I ran forward and knocked him down yelling "Police! Cluckity fuck fuck fuck!
Fuckin' hell.
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lessismore
Registered: 02/10/13
Posts: 6,268
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: Synthe]
#18728832 - 08/19/13 05:48 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Undercover , and informers
2 things I will never understand, some people have no morals
Luckily it is changing fast I think, the drug war can't continue, something will change soon
Maybe weed becomes legal in many places soon
Stupidity hunting down people a saturday afternoon for ½g of weed for personal use Even the system will be able to realize that sooner or later  Because everyone has tried weed, and the system can't jail everyone
The system is destroying itself with the drug war, adding drugs to your record so you can't get jobs if you get a fine i.e. and doctors adding drugs to your medical record easily too
Luckily I've never gotten busted, don't smoke weed either, but did like everyone else Used to smoke an 1/8th a day for a while
Edited by lessismore (08/19/13 06:33 PM)
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nooneman


Registered: 04/24/09
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Loc: Utah
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: sonamdrukpa] 1
#18728998 - 08/19/13 06:24 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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I love the part where he doesn't reflect at all on the thousands of lives that he ruined for no reason. The total lack of reflection is really astounding. All he cares about is how exciting it was for him, not the lives he was ruining. The worst part is, working for that many years that close to people, he had to know it was BS, and yet he's still proud of the lives he's ruined.
It's like a cop bragging about the number of people he got to shoot over the years, and how exciting it was.
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LethargicBeing
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: nooneman]
#18729295 - 08/19/13 07:28 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Such a self centered article about how "hard" and "scary" it was to work in situations we go into bare chested, bare fisted, while wearing a bullet proof vest and holding a gun. I like how they place their own safety above that of the CIs. "We were losing too many good men and women," so they decide to fuck over and put into danger these "bad" men and women.
Also, "I don't get scared anymore." Perfect example of the problem with cops. They become adrenaline junkies. The same feelings we get off drugs they are experiencing in intense situations and they STRIVE for it. Somehow the morons can't piece together the picture that they are going for the same feelings we are.
I hope this cop dies a painful and horrific death for his self centered ignorance.
-------------------- In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. [Carl Sagan, 1987 CSICOP keynote address]
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DebuteMachine

Registered: 09/29/06
Posts: 6,457
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: nooneman]
#18729501 - 08/19/13 08:08 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
nooneman said: I love the part where he doesn't reflect at all on the thousands of lives that he ruined for no reason. The total lack of reflection is really astounding. All he cares about is how exciting it was for him, not the lives he was ruining. The worst part is, working for that many years that close to people, he had to know it was BS, and yet he's still proud of the lives he's ruined.
It's like a cop bragging about the number of people he got to shoot over the years, and how exciting it was.
Right on!
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HardTrippin
The Ambivalent



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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: DebuteMachine]
#18729535 - 08/19/13 08:16 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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A Toronto cop who fired off nine bullets at a kid who was having a psychotic episode on a bus just got charged with second-degree murder. I thought they were just gonna take his badge but this is much cooler. Maybe cops in Ontario will think twice before they fire off their weapons like a maniac.
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NWlight
Just look


Registered: 01/12/10
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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: AbstraKt_I_Am]
#18729958 - 08/19/13 09:44 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
AbstraKt_I_Am said:
Quote:
Old Pokey said: Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's soft. That's what it's like when your a dick.

Or bacon.
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fapjack
Title



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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#18733998 - 08/20/13 07:59 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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Being a drug dealer is a lot more dangerous than being a UC, everyone knows criminals don't kill cops (at least in the US). Its a suicide mission if you do and if you don't get killed you will die in prison. CIs are much bigger pieces of shit though.
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Salomon
ಠ︵ಠ balance ಠ_ಠ weaver ಠ‿ಠ

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Re: What Does It Feel Like to Be an Undercover Cop? [Re: fapjack]
#18738246 - 08/21/13 03:48 PM (10 years, 8 months ago) |
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i would imagine you'd need to be a little bit of a sociopath to be a uc
-------------------- EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY BECOMES A DESERT
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