NCJ Number
196403
Date Published
2001
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This CD-ROM presents two lessons designed to instruct members of drug suppression undercover teams in the risks of undercover operations and in the use of a tool for measuring the risks associated with particular types of undercover operations so as to prevent harm to undercover agents.
Abstract
The introduction to the two lessons advises the student that there is no such thing as a routine undercover operation, since each operation is different and carries its own risks for the undercover agent’s injury or death. To illustrate this, the CD-ROM dramatizes an undercover drug operation in which the undercover agent brings the money for a drug sale to the meet with the supplier. Seeing that the money is present for the taking, the supplier shoots the agent and leaves with the money. The introduction then explains how this outcome could have been avoided through careful planning and attention to various risk scenarios and their prevention prior to the operation. The first lesson presented in this CD-ROM is intended to make undercover officers aware of the risks involved in undercover drug operations. It defines an undercover operation, identifies and discusses the seven critical factors that have been determined by the Drug Enforcement Administration to be the most frequent contributing factors to violence against undercover agents, and discusses reasons for the increase in such incidents. The second lesson presents the tool of a risk matrix, which can be used in the planning of undercover drug operations to assess the particular risks involved and devise a strategy to counter them. A final exam is included, which, if completed successfully, results in the issuing of a certificate of completion to the student.