Under-cover Operations PDF

Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management CHAPTER 11 Under-cover operations Chapter 11 Topic 2 1  Faculty of Humanities...

Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management CHAPTER 11 Under-cover operations Chapter 11 Topic 2 1  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management UNDER-COVER OPERATIONS An undercover investigation is the practice of a police officer posing as someone other than a police officer for the purpose of collecting evidence of criminal activity that would otherwise be difficult to acquire. The possible personas of the undercover investigator are almost limitless and can range from posing as a person seeking to purchase drugs from local traffickers to impersonating a vulnerable elderly citizen in a park to capture a purse snatcher preying on the elderly. 2  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management UNDER-COVER OPERATIONS There are also deep undercover strategies that may include establishing a longer-term identity with the purpose of: – infiltrating a criminal organization or a dissident political group – to gain internal intelligence of organizational activities, culture, and membership. Police investigators often find undercover strategies successful because criminal activity can be – witnessed first-hand, – and admissions of guilt made to undercover operators by criminals can be admitted to court without the need of the usual voir dire to test for admissibility. 3  Faculty of Humanities Department of Safety and Security Management UNDER-COVER OPERATIONS When conducting undercover operations, investigators must be careful to ensure that their presence and communication with the suspect is not the catalyst that causes that person to initiate a crime or carry through with a crime they would not otherwise have done. They can thus not incite crimes! If these dynamics of initiating the crime occur, a defence of entrapment can sometimes be made on behalf of the accused person. New investigators may be given the opportunity to participate in minor undercover roles fairly early in their careers, and these can be valuable learning experiences. 4