# what do undercover cops do when forced to do something illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927 "2010-07-08T02:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927/21 "2010-07-08T19:21:40Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > It’s one thing to take drugs. It’s another to asualt or kill someone. > > In fact, is it not true that taking drugs is not illegal? > . > . > . > Same with sex - the crime isn’t sex, it’s soliciting, indecent exposure, whatever. No. **Doctor Who** provides a cite for the taking of drugs, and as for sex: > [@Va Code](#): > > Any person who, for money or its equivalent, commits adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361…shall be guilty of being a prostitute, or prostitution… So the sex itself (for money) is a crime. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927/22 "2010-07-08T19:31:43Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:20, topic:545927”] I read a book (I can’t recall the title at the moment) about the only law enforcement officer ever to become a full member of the Hell’s Angels. They required him to murder a specific member of a rival gang. He quietly snatched the target and offered him a new identity and some cash. They then faked up his death, including some pictures of the “murder,” and the cop was accepted by the gang. [/QUOTE] I think we’re referring to the same dude. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927/23 "2010-07-08T20:22:34Z")
Not an undercover officer, and therefore not the OP’s situation, but DEA has turned a blind eye in the past to its paid informants committing murders if it was thought they could thereby acquire more information. Google House of Death, Juarez, and Santillan for the gory details. I’d like to think that an undercover officer would not be allowed to commit murders just for the sake of getting better information. (and wasn’t [Joseph Pistone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_D._Pistone) removed because he was ordered to kill another Mafia official?) The House of Death affair makes me wonder a little, though. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927/24 "2010-07-08T20:41:41Z")
_Removed._ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927/25 "2010-07-08T21:03:56Z")
Somehow I doubt there are too many undercover cops running solo Donnie Brosco style. And I would hardly look at shows like The Shield as reference material. My WAG is that when cops go undercover, they typically have a team supporting them in a van down the street listening and watching through the hidden mics and cameras in whatever shitbox motel they set up the sting operation. Plus I don’t think the “yo! kill this fool and show us you ain’t a cop!” scenario is too common. That’s sort of like “watch me commit this felony and not arrest me to prove you ain’t a cop!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-undercover-cops-do-when-forced-to-do-something-illegal/545927.md?page=1)