Ex-Undercover Cop Rates 13 Iconic Undercover Police Officers In Movies | How Real Is It?

Mr. Orange: Get out of the damn car! Neil Woods: To be honest, it's no wonder he got shot. Of course, she showed up, right? Golden Rule. I'm Neil Woods. I'm a former

undercover

police

officer, now a board member of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, and I'm here today to watch some

undercover

scenes in

movies

. Brian: Yes, this is Officer Brian O'Connor. I'm off duty MAPD. Neil: The ethics of undercover policing are pretty simple, because you're still a

police

officer. So your first duty is to preserve life. I didn't

real

ly have a choice there. The duty of a police officer is always the same.

Brian: I have a trauma victim, about 24 years old, 6 feet, maybe 200 pounds. Neil: There's actually quite a bit of detail in the words he was using to make clear that his knowledge of the situation, the trauma to the body, the medical information, would make a

real

difference in the likelihood of his survival. It's actually pretty well written. But there was a situation where I was in an isolated location with three problem heroin users, one of whom was yellow and had hepatitis C, and just before he injected I discovered that he had been in police custody and had no tolerance. , and then another, there were only two filters between them, so it was injected without a filter in the groin.

You know, the chances of him suffering a stroke as a result of that risky injecting behavior. Some vulnerable people actually put themselves at risk. It was a pretty scary situation. Dwight: We've never met. We are complete strangers. Also, we will need a signal to run away from there in case there is danger, and that signal is to lick your lips. Try it. No no no. Like this. Neil: Well, I would say I never get signs, but when I worked a job, very early on I worked with a drug squad and I met this guy, who just wanted to see the money. and I told the team, "There's no way there will be drugs.

There will be no drugs." And he said, "Well, we'll have a sign in case the drugs are there," while I put my arm on top of the car. It was only when we got in the car that I remembered that's what I did all the time, so the whole drug squad ran in, arrested the guy, and there were no drugs. That's why signals can always go wrong. Holdaway: To do this job, you have to be a great actor. You have to be a naturalist; You have to be very naturalistic. Neil: You're not an actor. You have to play a different version of yourself, but if you're there with the same people day after day, you can't maintain an act because it becomes brittle.

It's good to have anecdotes ready. You do; You need stories about the time you ran away from that security guard when he caught you stealing. The person you tripped over, what happened when you fell. But you can't rehearse them from a sheet of paper; They have to be yours. They have to be the narrative of your imagination and they have to be your own personality. Freddy: You won't get hurt. You're fucking with Beretta. They believe every damn word because you're awesome. Neil: Let's say I'm partnering with someone, working with another undercover cop. If I saw them do that in the mirror, I wouldn't be filled with confidence at all.

If you need that reassurance, you may not be where you need to be. Mr. Orange: Wait, wait! Just there. Get out of the damn car. Neil: To be honest, it's no wonder he got shot. Of course, it showed up, right? Golden Rule. Neil: That level of corruption, where there's a spy from one camp in the other, people assume is unusual, but it's not. I was on a covert operation, trying to infiltrate just the periphery of a cartel, but that cartel had a spy right in the heart of my camp. One of my backup team was replaced four and a half months after the operation by someone I shook hands with, and 12 months later it turned out that person had been paid to join the police.

Like in "The Departed." When I met him, he had been in the police force for seven years. Telephone operator: Wait, there is still an active telephone. George: Where? Neil: The controller is sitting next to the undercover team and actually receives messages from the undercovers while they're there. That's a no-no. You have to be completely separate from any covert investigation team. But yes, I would have had a mobile phone and sometimes two mobile phones, because one would have been an electronic open microphone and the other phone would have been a normal operating phone that would have all different names that would relate to different people than I could speak in my legend.

Because if your mafia friends see you with a phone and think, "I'm going to check your phone," and they see that you sent a message at that moment, or even sending a message at that moment is ridiculous. He noticed the hostility and suspicion. The moment he did that, they picked up on his body language, however subtle it was. You have to be sensitive to colloquialism, but in my experience, if someone suspects you, they will instantly question you. Tony: What is your occupation? Maria: Fisherwoman. Tony: Where were you born? Mary: Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tony: What is your date of birth?

Mary: February 21, 1952. Neil: Yes, this is interesting. Whenever you work undercover, you have to have an undercover story, you have to have your legend, but in domestic undercover work, the legend you build has more to do with where you've been, the experiences you've had, the people you know. So, for example, if you were working undercover and told someone that you used to go drinking at The Nags Head in Lincoln, you would need to know the name of the person who worked at the bar on Wednesdays. Tony: What's your middle name? Tony: What's your middle name? Joe: Leon?

Tony: shoot him. He is an American spy. Neil: A little harsh. Undercover work is a confidence trick. You don't get into this unless you know exactly who you are and for that role, and I don't need anyone to test me for that, because the tests suggest that there is some kind of vulnerability there, and you have to feel invulnerable. Martin: Hello. Gangster: Good, huh? Tasty, smooth? Martin: Now let me tell you, I take your entire stash for free and you morons can go to jail, what do you say about that? Neil: Yeah, okay. Yeah, I guess that's a good way to try to get yourself killed.

There's an arrogance about him that wouldn't really fit with undercover work. You are completely separate from normal police work. He doesn't have his authorization card or his badge or anything like that. For all intents and purposes, you are pretending to be someone else and you would be at great risk if you had anything on you that could identify you as a police officer. Police Officer: The drug itself is known as marijuana, tea, boo, stuff like that. Man: Rocío. Police officer: Grass. Neil: I mean, "Serpico" is based on a memoir, isn't it? It's actually meant to be based on a true story, and it's kind of the beginning of undercover work as a tactic.

I still find it very hard to believe. I mean, maybe it's true, but it seems really strange, doesn't it? Distribution of drugs at an information session. For "Serpico," there are many scenes that seem very unrealistic, but you have to remember the context of the 1970s, fresh out of Nixon's war on drugs. For a major Hollywood film, it at least dared to look at its darkest side. The techniques were more about how to avoid being in a situation where you would be forced to take drugs, and in the case of heroin and crack, that's pretty easy, because most exchanges are done in places where it wouldn't be so easy to do. he.

I could skin myself or cook heroin with a syringe if I had to. Once I had to accelerate a little, which was quite uncomfortable. Cannabis a few times, I think maybe three times? Frank: An undercover cop walks around in disguise, wearing black shoes and white socks. Everyone knows who he is. Neil: If you need to look scruffy, look scruffy. He used to play a walking thief, so he was wearing a full tracksuit and Nike Air Max sneakers. Other times he wore clothes that made me look like he was partially living in squats, you know, he was really struggling with life.

Jason: Tie your shoe, tie your shoe, right now, tie your shoe. Man: Oh shit. Neil: I think you'd need to have superhuman powers like Jason Bourne to avoid complete surveillance like that, because the people I worked with who were very good at surveillance, they have very little chance of escaping. of them or detect them, for that matter. Jason: Wait. Wait. Neil: I know it's a visual aid in the movie, but it's pretty ridiculous to lift the flap to talk into a microphone, or even have a headset with a wire in your ear. Why would you have that?

But of course it's pretty visual for a movie. You have a microphone attached, which is discreet, and you don't need to talk into your wrist, lapel or whatever. Just talk. Police or security services who are good at surveillance know where and when to use the correct codes. Felix: Eddie, I just want to ask you a question. Eddie: Yes, Felix. Felix: Enough. You wouldn't think you'd get away with this sh*t? Neil: You never hide. The golden rule is that you never show up. Delve deeper into secret, or rather, ask yourself who you can trust. Very early in my career I realized that I was potentially at the most risk from my colleagues, and most of the undercover work has to do with the war on drugs.

And the problem is that it is an industry that moves half a trillion dollars around the world, and that inevitably causes corruption. I've encountered that corruption many times, and that's what has always made me feel most insecure, so the most unsettling thing about undercover work is not really knowing who you can trust. Felix: So, Johnny, what do you think? Johnny: I think you made your point clear. Jim: Let's watch you roll. Kristen: Okay. Neil: It's extremely far-fetched. One does not work undercover with the intention of using drugs. The vast majority of the time I've brought drugs and someone says, "Go do it, then," I'd say, "I don't want to take them now.

Why do you want me to take them now?" Undercover training isn't really about behaviors or how to roll a joint. It's really about law and ethics; That's the training, really. You solve the rest later. Schmidt: Hello, my partner, he wants to see the product. Gangster: Why don't you talk? Jenko: My name is Jeff. Schmidt: That's the Boss, man. Neil: That seems a bit silly. I think that any mistake your partner makes, you are both involved. You know, if there is a suspicion about one of you, as soon as someone has the slightest suspicion about you, they will look for other things to be suspicious of.

One of the first things they will do is look you up and down. They will do this unconsciously and then move on to verbal questioning. They'll usually ask something like an open-ended question, like "Where did you say you're from again?" You have to put out that fire very quickly. If there are two of you, they look at you from top to bottom, they look at the other from top to bottom. They have twice as much information to work with and they are suspicious. So they can become suspicious much quicker if there is more than one. John: I'm John and this is Trevor.

Martin: John and Trevor, b------. You're fucking with old Bill, man. Neil: Your biggest nightmare, actually, as an undercover agent, is someone locking the door right after you've been challenged. They are aggressive people; he is responding in the appropriate way in the right situation. And he is thinking standing up and maintaining eye contact. I think it's a very realistic scene. It's exactly the kind of challenge you would face. "Who are you?" That's your classic first challenging question, really. I was actually shopping for football hooligans in Darby, and they were that kind of people. When they pushed me against a wall, they said he was going to rip my head off and fuck my neck.

You know, and he got violent instantly, and the people around him, because we were behind a pub in the outdoor area. Everyone responded really interestingly and pretty quickly. Everyone was instantly part of the violence that was about to break out, you know, if there ever was any. But my response: "Sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to fight with you, you know, I'm sorry." And that meek and humble response was the right way to go. Yes, Ok. Yeah, I guess that's a good way to try to get yourself killed.