Crimes of Undercover Ofcicers
Its been suggested that undercover police officers take their jobs a little to far. Undercover officers, and this includes FBI agents, DEA agents and other law enforcement individuals. I imagine that these individuals may find themselves in some pretty hairy situations and predicaments depending on the nature of the case they are investigating.
Undercover officers tend to engage themselves in some illegal and criminal activity in order to obtain and gather evidence against whomever they are investigating. These officers face moral dilemmas in regards to how far they are willing to go in the name of justice. Often they end up hooked on drugs or involved in prostitution or both in order to make it appear as though they are trustworthy to those they are investigating.
Officers have gone undercover in prisons in order to obtain information on how drugs are getting into the prison systems and being distributed. They usually must get hooked on drugs themselves, or worse, kill an inmate to prove they can be trusted. Often times, they commit the acts for fear of being found out. Some officers have even been arrested and have had to go to jail in order to secure their fake identities and not be found out. Many times, undercover assignments are in needed because they have the potential to bring down major crime ring organizations.
In regards to whether or not officers should break the law to advance their undercover status, its hard question but in my opinion, they should try to remain as legit and legal as they possibly can. I don’t believe any sort of case is worth someone’s integrity. No one should be forced to live with that on their conscious either. Some officers do however lose their better judgment and commit illegal acts in order to further their cases. I don’t think this is acceptable, but perhaps in some cases, there are extenuating circumstances. I’m not saying that illegal behavior is justified, but perhaps to a degree, it can be understandable.
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