It’s my understanding that undercover cops can’t take illicit drugs to gain credibility among the baddies in a sting operation. I learned this from TV shows and movies, a highly credible source that I rarely question. In movies, the cop is always saved from doing the line/smoking the joint at the last second due to some plot saving distraction. If it’s true that undercover cops can’t do drugs to legitimize themselves, what are they supposed to do when asked to prove themselves by this means? Why wouldn’t every drug dealer insist on everyone they deal with doing a line before they do business? Even if they say they don’t do drugs one line isn’t going to kill them if 20 to 30 years in a federal prison is at stake.
Breakin’ the law yeah breakin the law! Breakinn’ the law yeah breakin’ the law!
I’ve always heard that they could do drugs to gain credibility (doesn’t Laurence Fishburn smoke pot in Deep Cover?) but they can’t deny that they’re a cop if asked.
Undercover officers most certainly can claim to not be cops if asked. I think that rumor is police propaganda… 
<< but they can’t deny that they’re a cop if asked. >>
Absolutely right, Cisco. And I want you to spread this around amongst all your friends, that whenever they’re engaged in illegal activity and suspicious that someone may be an undercover cop, all they have to do is ask, and he’ll have to admit it. You keep believing that and you spread that around, to any felons or criminals or drug-dealers that you might know.
Robert TB, be quiet. Fighting ignorance is one thing, fighting crime is something quite else.
Are you a cop (you have to tell me if you are!)? Just wondering how you know. I’m not saying you’re wrong because the only evidence I have is that people in movies always say “Are you a cop? You have to tell me if you are!” I always wondered if that was true and thought it was weird if it was true because I know for a fact that cops are allowed to lie to you during interrogation.
My previous Beavis and Butthead response notwithstanding (and I know there’s a metal band to be attributed but they escape me at the moment – I can see the talons on the cover of the album but oh well), but my resonse is the reverse. The idea that you could undue 10 months of undercover work by asking “Hey, you’re not a cop, are you?” is the cuckoocloudland of the inexperienced lawbreaker. Otherwise, every single Miami Vice episode would last 10 minutes. And I’ve seen bouncers in bars that thought it an antidote for every poor ID card they were presented. I think the ammo you might have available would be if you burned every single day with an undercover cop for a year that was now trying to bust you for it. But then your issue is credibility of the witness and so on and so forth.
In fact, this reminds me of a cool scene in the episode of 21 Jump Street where the cops were undercover in a performing arts school, one guy who got busted accused Booker of doing what he was being arrested for, and Booker said, “You don’t think I could FAKE a shot of heroin in front of a junkie?”
Boy that show was cool oncetawhile.
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And remember: always plan your crime according to TV shows! They show you the REAL STORY!
Judas Priest.
It is my understanding that in one on one situations such as buying drugs for personal use, or trying to make a deal with a hooker is that, if asked, they must tell you they are a police officer or otherwise be guilty of entrapment. On the other hand, someone infiltrating a gang is trying to gather independent evidence to be used for conviction and is allowed to lie and commit small crimes to that end.
Screaming For Vengeance
Oh, and Snopes explains that, no, cops don’t have to reveal their real profession.
Hmmm, is there some big brother invisible camera that follows all law enforcement officers around and views their every move to judge whether their actions are in line? It’s hard enough to get anything done about an officer that routinely bends the law and abuses his power - it takes a lot of complaints, probably some additional unbiased witnesses or evidence of multiple offences, and plenty of persuasion if not the threat of a law suit to get the department to reluctantly even take a look the bad officer’s conduct.
My point is who’s to know if a UC officer snorts a line or smokes a joint? And how would it help the busted criminal if he spilled the beans on the cop anyways? I doubt the case against a drug smuggler and his 5-man team would be thrown out of court if one of them says “your honor, that cop on the stand got stoned once with us while we were playing poker, so let me go!!”
Also why would the courts even beleive the suspect (who has very good motivation for making up anything that will get him out of trouble)? I wouldn’t want to put my word against a UC officer’s word who’s been hanging out with me for the past 2 years and has a yard-long list of all the crap I’ve told him about pulling in addition to the mountain of evidence stacked up against me for whatever charges I’m facing now.
And finally would a cop doing drugs even be relevant to the case where someone is on trial for something else, especially when there will be all kinds of evidence against the guy other than what the cop says? If it could even be proved, wouldn’t it be a separate issue and the cop questioned about his conduct in a different investigation?
judge: “OK Dr. Evil, we’ve heard your accusation that Coumbo shot up with heroin once 6 months ago. Not that it’s any of your business, but we’ll fine him $200 and make him laddle out soup to the homeless for a week. Now as for this hidden camera footage of you stealing missles and gunning down those 15 people…”
daurbach: No, the basic rule on entrapment is that the police cannot induce someone to commit a crime that they would not commit if left to their own devices.
What that means is that the following scenario:
Me: Hey there. Wanna buy some drugs?
Undercover Cop: Huh? Oh, ok.
Me: Hey, are you a cop?
UC: Nope.
Me: Ok. $50 for this bag…
UC: You’re under arrest.
Would be a perfectly legit bust because I had gone up to him and made the proposal to commit a crime.
The following scenario, however:
UC: Hey, you. Wanna buy some drugs?
Me: No, thanks.
UC: C’mon, you wanna get high, I know it.
Me: Nah, no thanks.
UC: Ok, for you, half price. I’ll give you this for just $10. Whaddaya say?
Me: Well… ok.
UC: You’re under arrest.
Would be entrapment, because the cop had been the one to first propose committing a crime, and had induced a person (me) who was otherwise obeying the law to engage in a criminal activity. Whether or not the officer lies is irrelevent.
In fact, if the ‘no lying’ rule were real, than all undercover operations would be entrapment. In the first case the policeman lied about actually wanting to buy drugs (his real intention was to make an arrest), and in the second case he lied since he wasn’t really going to sell me anything.
The myth of “You have to tell me if your a cop” was debunked on this board a number of times. It was an illogical extension of the entrapment laws.
But this topic is NOT about entrapment. Nor is it about whether UC’s do/do not actually abide by the law. I have a feeling this is gonna degenerate to a certain POW post.
undercover cops can say and do what they want try and tell one other wise. bigger city cops have there own rules,unless your rich or famous your screwed,and yes they can do drug’s some even have classes to teach them how to handle drugs the world is not a movie!! on the streets it’s live or die and undercover cop’s can be good or bad …this is real life!! so go to work and pay your bills and stay away from the law they alway’s win
In the early days of the internet, I recall a popular story of a cop who would, in his uniform, go up to suspected drug houses and ask to buy crack or whathaveyou. He apparently had some success in claiming that cops need drugs, too, and drug dealers shouldn’t discriminate against customers. Whether or not it is true, it’s a great play on the “cops can’t lie” rule.
And by “rule,” I mean the thing that everyone knows that cops can’t lie about being cops. I think it’s in the Constitution or something.
Do Undercover Zombie Cops (UZCs) have to identify themselves before they eat your brain?
Zombie undercover cops!
That’s what they want you to think. I have witnessed firsthand charges getting dropped and people getting off free (or getting great plea bargains) because the cops used excessive force etc.
Know your rights. And get a good lawyer.