9781422285121

Undercover Police Officer

Bomb Squad Technician Border Security Dogs on Patrol FBI Agent Fighter Pilot Firefighter Paramedic Search and Rescue Team Secret Service Agent Special Forces SWAT Team Undercover Police Officer

Undercover Police Officer

By John Perritano

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2016 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3391-7 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-3403-7 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8512-1

First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Santa Barbara, California Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Bill Madrid Production: Sandy Gordon www.shorelinepublishing.com

Cover image: Dmitri Maruta/DollarPhoto

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Perritano, John.

Undercover police officer / by John Perritano. pages cm. -- (On a mission!) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4222-3403-7 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4222-3391-7 (series) -- ISBN 978-1-4222-8512-1 (ebook) 1. Undercover operations. 2. Criminal investigation. 3. Police patrol--Specialized units. I. Title. HV8080.U5P47 2016 363.2’32--dc23 2015006717

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Emergency! …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 6 Mission Prep …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 12 Training Mind and Body …….…….…….…….…….…….……. 20 Tools and Technology …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 30 Mission Accomplished! …….…….…….…….…….…….……. 40 Find Out More …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 46 Series Glossary …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……. 47 Index/About the Author… .…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 48 Contents

Key Icons to Look For

Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowl- edge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry con- nected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis.

Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here.

Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains termi- nology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

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Emergency!

When agents of the Texas Department of Public Safety went undercover, the first thing they did was take off this uniform.

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Can I talk to you guys a second?

Stephen Davis and Garry Manning (not their real names) looked at each other as they sat behind their desks. Their boss, a lieutenant in the Texas Department of Public Safety, had just walked in and told the men something interesting. A person involved in illegal dogfighting was ready to spill the beans. Did Davis and Manning want to listen to what he had to say? The officers looked at each other. They were veteran undercover agents. They had posed as drug dealers, members of a motorcycle gang, gun smugglers, and white supremacists . Dogfighting? “We didn’t want to mess with dogfighting,” Manning later told Texas Monthly magazine. “We just figured it was…something for the local animal-control officers.” It wasn’t.

Words to Understand ghastly horrifying infiltrate enter into an organization to spy on it initiation to become a member by going through a special procedure or ceremony skeptical doubtful vouch assure white supremacists people who believe white people are superior to all others

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Doing Research The cops were skeptical . Then they did their research and were shocked at what they found. Dogfighting was big business. A dog owner could win as much as $10,000 for a fight. Some charged between $500 and $1,500 to train other dogs. Message boards on the Internet gave dog-fighting tips and the best way to treat injured animals. The cops later talked to the informant (a per- son who provides information to the police) and learned that southeast Texas was ground zero for dogfighting. From the inner cities to small towns, people held dogfights in abandoned buildings, parking lots, and even on street corners. The officers learned dogfighting

The officers found the dogs kept in terrible and unhealthy conditions in small, cramped crates like these.

was more widespread than they had expected. It involved people from oth- er states and Mexico. Many were older men who had been involved for years. Younger people, mostly in poor neigh- borhoods where drugs and gangs ruled the day, also were participating.

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Davis and Manning decided to take the case. They would have to investigate their way. They would go undercover and infiltrate the world of dogfighting. They would get to know the main players. When they had the evidence, they would make arrests and break up the rings. Invitation Only What Davis and Manning were attempting was something no other police officer had done be- fore. It wouldn’t be easy. For one thing, the dog- fighting world was a close-knit, secret community. Outsiders were not welcomed. The cops would need invitations to so-called “shows,” where dogs battled it out. Those who were invited didn’t know the location of a fight until the day before. Moreover, the two officers would have to become someone they weren’t—dogmen. They would have to do things they normally wouldn’t do. That’s what undercover police do. They briefly trade in one life for another.

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In this case, Manning and Davis had to pre- tend not to care about the animals, which they found hard to do. To get close to the “dogmen,” Davis and Manning would have to participate in a ghastly world that few people knew existed. Initiation Although the case would be tough to crack, their boss gave his okay. Manning and Davis decided the best plan was to lure the dogmen of southeast Texas to a rented warehouse on Houston’s east side. They called the joint the Dog House. There, hidden cameras and microphones would video- tape and record those involved in the dogfights. Davis and Manning first needed to see what they were getting into. To that end, the informant brought them to their first dogfight. The men came away from the fight shaken and sick. They had seen their share of murder victims, but this was different. This was horrific. They walked away from the fight with blood on their boots. “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Manning thought.

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Their initiation made Davis and Manning more determined to bring down the dogmen. Still, both men were un- known in the world of dogfighting. They needed a break. They needed someone to vouch for them. The informant said he could help.

He approached one of the top dogfighters in Texas, a man named Rob Rogers. Rogers owned thirty fighting dogs. The informant told Rogers he knew two guys who had opened up a new “spot” to hold dogfights. Did Rogers want to talk to them? Yes, he did. That was the break Davis and Manning were looking for. Rob Rogers and the other dogmen of Texas would be in for the shock of their lives. Later, in the final chapter “Mis- sion Accomplished,” find out how this un- dercover operation helped end the dog- fighting ring. First, learn more about the training and techniques used by undercover police officers.

Fighting dogs are trained for

fierceness, often with brutal methods that harm the animals.

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Chapter 1

Undercover? Not yet. Many police detectives do not wear uniforms; they are considered plainclothes, not undercover officers.

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Mission Prep

As long as people have been breaking the law, there have been police officers trying to stop them. In most cases, everyone knows who police officers are. You can spot them in a crowd. They wear uniforms and carry a badge and a gun. They drive in clearly marked police cars. However, many communities employ another kind of officer—a stealth squad of men and women pretending to be someone they’re not. They are undercover police, and their job is to worm their way into the world of crime to bring down lawbreakers of all types. Police departments all around the world use undercover officers to gain access to organized crime mobs, street gangs, radical political groups, and other organizations. They work to catch drug dealers, gun smugglers, CD or DVD bootleggers , or to break up stolen car rings.

Words to Understand aliases fake names bootleggers criminals that make or sell something illegally, such as CDs and DVDs corrupt having a willingness to act in a criminal way criminologist someone who studies crime and criminals stealth done secretly or undercover surveillance the process of watching someone or something, often from a concealed location transition a change from one form or process to another

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Not only do local police have undercover units, but also the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other national agencies run undercover op- erations. Some private security groups also hire undercover agents to investi- gate crimes inside a corporation. Yet, no matter where they work,

The First Undercover Unit

The first organized undercover unit was created in France in the early 1800s. The country’s famed criminol- ogist , Eugène François Vidocq, set up the unit. It was called the Brigade de la Sûreté, or Security Brigade. Within a year, the unit had 28 agents working secretly on cases, posing as beggars, shopkeepers, and ordinary citizens. Vidocq personally trained his men. He even selected their disguises. Once, he faked his own death to catch a criminal.

being an undercover officer is a danger- ous and mentally grueling job. Under- cover agents often have to shed their own personality to take on the role of another person. While working under- cover, or UC for short, law enforcement officers will not carry any police identifi- cation. They’ll only carry a gun when the role they are playing calls for it. Double Life A good UC agent lives a double life, passing as a member of the group he or she is investigat- ing. Sometimes the agents don’t see or visit with

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