--For any curious SR users:It is traditional on SRF to place the [intel] tag in front of the subject line when submitting sources of documentation/news to the forum. Sources should be high quality and ideally primary sources. Since there is a diverse set of possible topic areas, if you want to get a sense of what is appropriate intelligence then search the forum using the [intel] tag.--Source:Title: Global Drug Enforcement - Practical Investigative TechniquesAuthor: Lee, Gregory DPublisher : CRC PressISBN10 | ASIN : 0203488989ISBN13 : 9780203613078--Definition of UndercoverThe use of undercover agents is a time-tested investigative technique where disguises and pretexts are used to gain the confidence of known or suspected criminals in order to undermine their illegal activities. Working undercover in a drug investigation does not mean that the drug agent will be living and working with drug dealers full-time. To the contrary, undercover drug agents should strive to minimize the amount of exposure they have with a drug dealer. Short-term undercover operations are the norm in modern drug investigations. Long-term undercover operations do take place, but they require extensive planning and preparation and expose the agent to risks not encountered in short-term undercover roles. The longer the undercover agent is exposed to the suspect, the greater the odds he or she will be discovered to be a law enforcement official.Drug agents should avoid going inside drug dealers residences and other dwellings since surveillance officers cannot immediately respond to help the agent if the need arises. Surveillance agents are ultimately responsible for the safety of the undercover agent, and operations that degrade safety should be avoided.Undercover agents should never allow suspects to go to their personal homes for any reason. A furnished undercover apartment will help ease the suspicions of the drug dealer who asks to visit the agent at his or her home. If an undercover apartment or house is not available, numerous excuses can be given to deny the suspects request to conduct business there. Most drug dealers accept the fact that the undercover agent does not want to expose his family to other drug traffickers. Purpose of Undercover OperationsThe undercover investigative technique is used to infiltrate criminal organizations to determine their intentions. Infiltration of a criminal organization is extremely dangerous and is used sparingly by most law enforcement agencies.Drug agents chosen for long-term undercover roles must weigh their personal lives against the demands of such an investigation. Supervisors and managers of long-term undercover agents must consider the risks along with the affect it will have on their employees and their families. Managers must decide if the risks posed to the employee are worth any potential information gained through a long-term undercover assignment.One of the objectives of an undercover operation is to identify as many members of a drug conspiracy as possible, and determine what their particular role in the organization is. By interacting with these persons, undercover agents can sometimes predict, with some accuracy, which members of a criminal organization may later cooperate with law enforcement after they are arrested.Undercover agents obtain evidence for court. Through their roles, they have the opportunity to learn where drugs and evidence are located. In addition to drugs and evidence of the crime, undercover drug agents should be alert to determine where drug proceeds and items purchased with ill-gotten gains are located.One of the most important responsibilities an undercover agent has is to determine the suitable time and place for the execution of arrest and search warrants. His or her intimate knowledge of the drug traffickers will be beneficial in helping locate persons subject to arrest, and predicting if these persons will resist arresting officers.Undercover agents frequently pose as customers of drug traffickers. An informant introducing an undercover agent to a drug trafficker usually accomplishes this. In complex investigations, more sophisticated undercover roles may be required. The agent may be required to pose as someone who possesses a special skill the drug trafficking organization needs, such as a pilot or money launderer.Through thorough debriefings of informants, the case agent determines where the criminal organization is most vulnerable to the introduction of an undercover agent. Since traffickers have to rely on the recommendations from trusted associates, they may ask a confidential informant (CI) to find a pilot or big-rig truck driver to move drugs from one location to another. This is an ideal opportunity to introduce an undercover drug agent into the organization. The selected agent must possess the necessary skills required to convince the traffickers he or she can perform the job. They may be quizzed extensively about their experience in these skills, something the undercover drug agent must be prepared for.Other areas where drug trafficking organizations often need persons with particular skills to carry out their objectives are: boat captains, flight attendants, travel agents, real estate agents, bank employees, investment consultants, chemists, chemical suppliers, automobile dealers, enforcers, counter-surveillance personnel or lookouts, corrupt law enforcement officials, private investigators, and house sitters. A house sitter is someone who will reside in a residence where a substantial amount of drugs and or money are stored. The house sitter not only provides security, but also maintains the overall appearance of the residence so to not raise suspicions from the neighbors. Sophisticated Colombian cocaine trafficking organizations have been known to provide written instructions to house sitters on how to give the appearance of being a normal American family by attending local churches and having barbeques on Sunday afternoons.Qualifications for Undercover WorkThe drug agent selected for an undercover role must first possess the necessary sophistication for the assignment. Supervisors and managers need to insure that the candidate has sufficient knowledge about drugs in general, and specifically how they are bought, sold, diluted, transported, smuggled, concealed, and used. They must also speak the traffickers language and know street terminology for different drugs. He should be an experienced investigator who has a good working knowledge of street and wholesale prices in the area.He or she must have the appropriate appearance for the role. An investigator normally assigned to surveillance work who has a disheveled appearance may have to become well groomed and tailored if he is needed to play the role of an investment banker anxious to launder a drug dealers money. On the other hand, a clean-cut investigator must alter his appearance if he hopes to convince a drug dealer he is a homeless person who is addicted to drugs. Appearance is equally important as knowledge and skill.Undercover drug agents must understand the metric system. Drugs are dealt in quantities of grams, ounces, pounds, kilograms, and metric tons. The undercover drug agent needs to understand that some drug trafficking organizations use a variation of this system for drug sales. For example, Mexican heroin organizations sell 25 gram ounces of heroin, instead of the true weight of 28.35 grams, simply because a large number of their customers are Americans, and it is easier to separate a kilo into 40, 25-gram pieces. Mexican heroin traffickers also deal in 20-ounce half-kilos. The latter two equal the correct metric measurement for a half-kilogram and kilogram. Investigators working undercover assignments targeting Mexican heroin traffickers who do not know these nuances between different trafficking organizations will demonstrate their lack of experience in the drug business, and may possibly expose themselves to dangerous situations. A quick primer on the drug dealers metric system is:Kilogram=1000 grams or approximately 2.2 poundsGram=0.03527 ounceOunce=28.35 gramsPound=0.4536 kilogramsMetric ton=1000 kilograms (2200 pounds)The experienced undercover officer knows what drugs are sold in what increments. For example, methamphetamine at the wholesale level is always sold in quarter-pound to pound quantities. Retail sales of methamphetamine can be in any quantity, but is usually sold in ounces. Cocaine is commonly sold at the wholesale level in kilogram increments whereas retail sales are usually ounces, half-ounces, and grams. It would be a tactical error for an undercover drug agent to ask a drug trafficker for a kilogram of methamphetamine. The trafficker would immediately recognize this person as someone who did not know what he or she was talking about. This is why preparation is so important before performing any undercover assignment.Some trafficking organizations are reluctant to deal at the wholesale level with someone outside their own ethnicity or nationality. However, street level sales to persons of different ethnic groups are commonplace. This is one reason a well-trained, ethnically diverse drug investigation unit is most effective against drug traffickers. Dealers are naturally leery of strangers who may be undercover agents or informants. They become more cautious as the stakes are raised. Informants can often ease the fears of the drug trafficker by vouching for the undercover agent, but ultimately the agent must convince the trafficker he is not affiliated with law enforcement.Drug agents selected for undercover assignments should not be from the same area where they will be working. Smaller police departments can overcome this dilemma by having an undercover exchange program with other departments to insure covert law enforcement officials are not recognized.Undercover Agents TraitsIntelligenceObviously, drug agents who perform undercover operations have to be intelligent. They must also have an abundance of common sense, and be able to think quickly on their feet and make sound judgments while under stress. They must be able to recognize criminal acts when they are committed in their presence, and identify those persons responsible for the crimes later in court.The undercover agent must be able to work with others on his team and know how to gain their full support during difficult surveillance operations, keeping their needs in mind. An undercover drug agent who unnecessarily prolongs a meeting with a suspect for the sake of playing the role, will find his surveillance team less enthusiastic the next time they cover him. The undercover drug agent must be cognizant of the telltale signals suspects give when they intend to rob him of his buy money instead of selling him drugs.Self-ConfidenceSuccessful undercover agents frequently display an abundance of self-confidence. Self-confidence is gained through having a thorough knowledge of the case, the drugs in question, and the suspects he or she is targeting. Self-confidence will rub off on both the informant and the suspect who will both feel comfortable working with the agent during his undercover role.Someone with no self-confidence will communicate to the traffickers he or she couldnt possibly be the person the informant led them to believe. Creating a doubt in the criminals mind may not only jeopardize the undercover operation, but could pose safety problems for the informant and agent alike.CourageIt takes courage for a drug agent to meet with a known criminal to discuss buying drugs. The suspects undercover agents meet are people they would never otherwise associate with in either professional or social settings. Yet, he or she is flung into a situation where they must now socialize with these criminal types, and gain their confidence.Undercover work is extremely dangerous. More DEA special agents have been killed or injured while working undercover than in any other assignment. If the agent selected for the undercover assignment expresses reluctance because of fear or uneasiness, supervisors should not allow him or her to perform that particular assignment. Undercover work is not for everyone. On the other hand, drug agents who only want to perform undercover roles need to experience other duties as well.Some drug dealers may attempt to rob a customer if they feel there is an excellent chance of getting away with it. Dealers know that any customer they rob of their money to purchase drugs would be reluctant to report such an incident to the police. The undercover agent must constantly ask him or herself why the suspect insists on doing a drug transaction a certain way or at a particular location. Could robbery be the motive? Even well established drug dealers may decide to rob a customer if they think they can get away with it.The most dangerous situation for the undercover agent is when money and drugs are together to be traded. The danger level is relatively low when there is only a meeting to discuss an upcoming drug transaction, but the danger level rises significantly when drugs or money is shown to the other party. The danger level also rises significantly when the drug dealer believes the undercover agent has access to a large amount of money to be used in a future purchase.Even if the undercover agent has no plans of showing the trafficker money, there may be problems. If the agent has told the trafficker he or she has access to the money, there is a possibility the dealer may attempt to hold the agent hostage until someone delivers the money in exchange for the agents release. Undercover drug agents must constantly be on guard against robbery or kidnapping attempts by the drug trafficker he or she is negotiating with.Often undercover drug agents will not carry weapons during their undercover roles for fear of them being seen. They do not want to be thought of as either someone who intends to rob the drug trafficker or as a drug agent. The presence of a firearm for self-protection may be easy to explain to the drug dealer, but it increases the likelihood that the dealer will bring a weapon to future meetings. The undercover agent must assume at all times that the drug trafficker is armed or may have someone who is nearby.When the time comes for the surveillance team to arrest the drug dealer, the undercover agent should remove himself from the scene and resist the temptation to participate. Arrest situations are an exceptionally dangerous aspect of the undercover agents job. The suspect may initially believe he is being robbed and may attempt to defend himself. Or if he realizes he is about to be arrested, he may mistakenly assume the drug agent is an informant, and attempt to immediately retaliate against him. Ruthless drug dealers are much more likely to kill an informant than a law enforcement officer. Undercover agents have successfully avoided being killed by drug traffickers when they were able to convince them they were actually law enforcement officers.