Sara Rowley

Mr. Lehauli

Criminal Justice PM

Fall 2019

The Moral Dilemmas of Undercover Policing

When one thinks of undercover police work, oftentimes the word corruption comes to

mind, but is undercover policing a corrupt form of policing or do the benefits outweigh the

consequences? Additionally, how should undercover policing be regulated in order to protect

those investigated. To reach a conclusion, it is important to first fully appreciate what undercover

police actually do, what regulations are currently in place, and how it affects them and those they

are investigating.

In terms of the police officers who go undercover, they are usually putting themselves in

great amounts of danger for the purpose of gathering raw intelligence. They do not investigate

crimes. They take on a new criminal persona: behaving, dressing, speaking and essentially

becoming the persona. Once they are able to successfully assimilate and camouflage into a

criminal organization, typically through an informant, they can go along with criminal plans that

their agency approves. When they deem fit they may make a judgment call to disobey protocol

and gather the needed evidence for a conviction.

Due to a general lack of regulation over undercover police work, it can be difficult to tell

if a police officer crosses the line into entrapment ( a violation of the 4th amendment), or into

general corruption. Undercover officers are not permitted to begin an investigation into a person

or organization without probable cause. This is typically an effective regulation, except in certain

cases when officers have an empty cause. One such instance was when a police officer in
Memphis created a fake profile to track the Black Lives Matter movement, claiming to be

following concerning individuals and protests without permits. There was no real cause for

concern, and as such was an unnecessary invasion of privacy. Additionally, in undercover

investigations, entrapment is also a pressing issue. Entrapment is when an officer courses a

person into committing a criminal act. This can often be seen in undercover cases involving

prostitution, drug dealing, and dog fighting. Because a crime is the officer’s idea when

entrapment is involved, this can lead to corruption, as the crime would otherwise not be

committed.

Another thing to consider when you think about whether or not the benefits outweigh the

consequences of undercover police work, is how these criminal affiliations and actions affect the

officers, and those they investigate. It is important to know whether or not the officers become

corrupt in the process. There are many recorded instances of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as

disciplinary problems related to undercover work. “One of the biggest struggles for undercover

police officers is keeping their real lives and their undercover lives separate. When drugs are

added to the equation, the lines begin to blur, as they did for Robert Carroll, who went

undercover for the secretive Sigma unit of the Greater Manchester Police force as a junkie

named ‘Lee Taylor’... Unlike many undercover cops who manage to fake their drug use, Carroll

partook of heroin to excess, smoking the drug every day while undercover.” (Ranker)

Frequently, while undercover, agents are forced to intake drugs and/ or alcohol in order to prove

themselves to the criminals, they become addicted. This also leads to a lack of impulse control

and discipline. Officers can also be affected mentally. The roles they take on can start to disrupt

their personal lives. One officer who went undercover, Lizzie james worked a case and the

intended target got off, but she suffered “from psychological problems, weight gain, and loss of
sex drive, [and] quit the force.” (Ranker) Their undercover roles also heavily affect those they

investigate, agents need to fully immerse themselves, Which means making relationships. “Mark

Kennedy went undercover for the Special Demonstration Squad in London for seven years,

living as "Mark Stone," a scruffy, long-haired professional climber. He ‘used women’ to gather

intelligence” (Ranker). These kinds of fake relationships cause emotional abuse/ trauma to those

involved, and can lead to unwanted pregnancies/ abortions.

While there are plenty of consequences varying in seriousness, there have been so many

instances where undercover agents are able to arrest and convict extremely dangerous criminals,

and keep the community safe. The types of criminals undercover agents can be as low key as

junkies or as serious as serial killers. Joseph D. Pistone was an undercover agent who was able to

shut down a mafia family. “Pistone's investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of over

100 mobsters and effectively destroyed the Bonanno family” He did this without hurting himself

or his family. Another successful undercover operation was when Terry Mills and Jeff Heath

were able to gather enough information on a dog fighting ring to form a “multi-agency task

force [that] raided dogfighting and breeding operations in eight states, resulting in the arrest of

26 dogfighters and the seizure of more than 500 pit bulls.” Another more serious operation was

when Dominick Polifrone busted a serious hitman known as The Iceman. Over the course of 18

months, Polifrone posed as a hardened criminal to earn Kuklinski's hitman trust…. Kuklinski

eventually gave up enough information about his crimes” he was arrested and convicted.

All of these cases and more help to protect our society, and in many of them neither the

agents, nor those they create relationships with during their investigations are harmed. So, are

these undercover investigations worth the risk and consequences? Yes, they are. The officers

who go undercover do so willingly to protect us, and they understand the consequences.
Instances where police officers become corrupt as a result of their work are few and far between,

and the people and organizations they investigate pose a great harm to our communities, and

stopping them means the guaranteed safety of our citizens from them.
Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/05/undercover-police-judge-sir-john-

mitting

https://www.criminology.education/undercover-cop-job-description/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bsl.2370090310

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/japp.12243

https://www.ranker.com/list/true-deep-undercover-cop-stories/brent-sprecher