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Investigative morals
Deivy Steven Brinkley
Liberty university
Author Note
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Abstract
This paper will be a in depth look at undercover investigations and how they work and
how they are ran and also will detail within the more shady side of undercover work and how it
can affect your morals and can mentally and psychologically affect someone and how someone
with a Christian based worldview can go about something such as this and hopefully technology
about it
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Investigative morals
When people think of undercover investigations they often think of crazy FBI raids and
things such as taking down drug cartels and drug dealers. My even often think of Hollywood
movies such as the sting, The Departed or think of a character such as Hank Schrader from
Breaking Bad. While these are fanciful Hollywood characters and imaginings of undercover
investigations don't be fooled, undercover investigations are in fact real and they do occur
frequently. The main difference is they might not be as glamorous as you would see on a
Hollywood movie screen or a TV screen. The real undercover investigations are far less
glamorous and a lot more boring than one could expect but also more perilous and can often test
ones morals to the limits. Real undercover work isn't as glamorous as one would think it is and
there is also a darkness to it that most people would not be able to comprehend
History
To be able to grasp the mentality of undercover investigations one would have to know
the history of it all. When you look at history undercover investigations have always been a thing
from spies in medieval times and even farther back into the times of Joshua and Moses. One of
the first do you want more mention of spies in history is actually in the Bible with the story of
the 12 in the book of numbers. One of the 1st references for undercover work and law
enforcement would be the post St. runners that took place in England in the 1700s and the 1800s
and a lot of our modern investigative work and also undercover work takes inspiration from that.
1st use of undercover investigations in America was the Pinkerton national detective agency. The
pinkertons dissolved in the 1800s but a lot of what they did was absorbed into local police forces
and most importantly the Federal Bureau of investigation. In America undercover investigations
really took off in the 1920s with the illegalization of alcohol and the prohibition era. This is
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where a lot of the Hollywood excitement and glitz and glamour comes from. Undercover
investigations have also been used in many big times in recent history such as presidential
scandals and even the civil rights movement and is often used in narcotic operations these days.
How it works
The method of under cover works is also not as glamorous as the movie would like to portray it
out to be. It is not always one big constant car chase or one big constant gunfight but it is more
like of creating the perfect plan and looking at ways to execute it. Officers also have to make
sure that they are doing everything 100% by the books and legally because if they do not want
small mistake could potentially toss them the entire case. The planning stage can be months at a
time and can be very long hours worked. An undercover investigations you also have to create a
false identity and be able to completely transform yourself into that new false identity that one
has created. This identity and the story behind the identity needs to be believable and look the
power and oftentimes be 100% different of the person that they actually are. The training for
undercover investigations is also very extraneous. If it is done through a normal police force the
officer has to take multiple tests before they can get on the undercover normally vice and
narcotics unit. Once they start training they go through a bunch of role play training to go
through various different situations that could occur while on the field and on the case. The
actors try to use their best impressions so that it feels as realistic as possible. They also have to
have training and to who and what they are investigating so that they can blend in and fit into the
culture without being suspected being an outsider. A lot of the training also consists of learning
how to properly answer questions and to defer questions and how to keep a straight face and
things of that sort of nature. This is very important because one wrong thing said or one wrong
answer and the whole entire operation could be blown. If the operation is blown that could result
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on weeks and months wasted. Criminals getting away and at worst case the life of a officer. After
all of the training is complete that is when the real very important part begins. This is when all of
the hours and months that have been put observing and getting evidence come into play and an
officer finally goes undercover. Some undercover work isn't as big as other undercover work
such as oftentimes officers just will disguise themselves as a buyer and try to attract drug dealers
at other times officers infiltrate gangs. For bigger cases it's all about gaining the trust of the
criminals and hoping that they tell you information that they would not tell any sort of officer.
During this part of an undercover investigation observation is also very important. An officer
must observe the actions of wherever they are infiltrating and pay attention for key details.
Oftentimes an officer will use very sleazy tactics such as wiring a room recording conversations
and taking pictures of classified information to help there be more evidence for the case. Another
big part of how undercover operations works is having an informant inside of wherever the
officer is trying to infiltrate. Oftentimes these informants are people who have gotten caught and
want to make a deal so they do not have to do as much jail time so in a trade off of not getting as
much jail time they will give information to the officers about all the going ons. Once there is
enough information to make a case that is normally when an officer pulls out and arrests are
made. Oftentimes there are mass arrests made because in a undercover investigation there is
normally information about multiple people than just one main person. Another big part of
undercover investigation is getting enough warrants. Without proper warrants you can't make an
arrest or without arrest you will not be able to get bad people off of the streets. Another
important factor is that all the evidence was gained legally and ethically because if an officer did
anything that was even slightly bending or breaking the laws all of the time and effort for the
investigation has gone down the drain and was effectively made pointless because of one bad
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lapse of judgement. While undercover operations are mainly referenced in the criminal justice
aspect of it there are different industries that also use it such as journalism and even corporate
America and in the government
Morailty.
As humans we all have a moral code and we all know what is right and what is wrong
and for most people we are all taught to be honest and that lying and twisting the truth is wrong.
In undercover investigations this is flipped upside down because in order to be successful one
must oftentimes not be very truthful. An important question on undercover officer must ask
themselves is is telling lies and ruining people's trust always worth the pursuit of justice and is it
ethical. Sometimes an officer can go undercover and befriend people that they are investigating
in that requires them to build up a fake trust with that person and completely have ulterior
motives. There is also a privacy dilemma. An important question to ask when doing something
such as a wire or secretly recording is is this moral and is this under the legal guidelines that an
officer needs to follow and does the right to know justify this intrusion of privacy. There is also
an issue of entrapment. If an officer is simply observing and exposing someone committing a
crime that is in theory morally fine but let's there is an undercover officer who is posing as a
buyer and this buyer forces someone to sell him a gram of marijuana is he enforcing the laws or
is he forcing someone to commit a crime so that he can get an arrest? That is an issue that one
could look at as morally wrong. There's also the issue of if an undercover officer interacts with
an innocent person who is not at all connected to the crime that could bring danger or harm to an
innocent person who is not at all connected to anything whatsoever in that situation if something
happens to said person it is on the officer and whatever happens to the person is on his hands.
There's also the dilemma of violence. If an undercover officer is investigating a gang some gangs
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are very violent. In a scenario where an undercover officer is witnessing a gang beating does the
officer stop the beating because that is their job to pursue justice and keep people safe or does the
officer let the beating continue because if the officer does something intervenes that could ruin
the case. That is another moral dilemma that a undercover investigator could possibly face and
sometimes the right thing can in fact be the thing that could detour the case. There is also the fear
that an officer could mi misuse the power that they have because they are undercover and no one
knows that they are an officer so it is very easy to tow the line and potentially breach the trust
they have and the oath they took to serve and protect and do something wrong on purpose
because there is a big chance that they will never be found out that they did anything wrong. This
is why being a person of high character is very important because characteristics of honesty and
integrity are very important. This is also why proper documentation and these sort of cases are
very important so that the methods that were used within the investigation are known and there is
no secrecy and there is no place for anyone to raise a question about what happened and what
sort of methods were used. In undercover investigations there is a lot of ethical training which
comes in hand and is very important.
Christian perspective.
With all the talk about morals and honesty should a follower of Christ partake in
undercover investigations is a question that one could raise and there is a solid argument that
they should not. When you look at a verse such as colossians chapter 3 verse 9 which says do not
lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices it makes it clear that we
are not supposed to lie and we are supposed to tell the truth and in fact one of the 10
commandments says that we are not supposed to lie. In the biblical account of Caleb and the
spies that has to do with undercover investigations the part about rehab resonates with this topic.
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When the spies hid in rahab's house she told a lie telling the soldiers that the spies were not there
and that was wrong. Some people theorize that even if she did tell the truth the spies would have
been OK because the Lord would have been protecting them. Ohh yes she was trying to do the
right thing she did it with the wrong methodology and in undercover investigations that is
something that one could think about how you can do the right thing but use the wrong methods
to achieve the main goal. There is also another biblical instance of lying when the Hebrew
midwives lied to the pharaoh to protect infants in the book of exodus and this also shows that
God can use deception for his glory if he needs to. As followers of Christ we are supposed to
want to achieve justice because that is one thing that we are called to do but we are not supposed
to use any evil or methods of wrongdoing to achieve such justice this is stated in the Bible. As
being an undercover investigator one would have to have very good discernment when it comes
to issues such as this. As believers we are supposed to be women and men of integrity. If we are
doing stuff it's secret such as doing something undercover we need to make sure that it aligns
with biblical worldview and principles. If a Christian is trying to do something that is an
undercover investigation and Is thinking about it the best thing to do is to read the word of God
and to meditate and to pray you need to take a deep look at themselves some questions. Some of
these questions can include am I a person of integrity, am I easily swayed to do something that is
wrong and are the motivations for wanting to do something like this pure. Another wise thing a
Christian should do is to always seek counsel end as someone who is wiser than you the question
such as a pastor or someone that you can trust with confidential information
Conclusion.
In conclusion undercover operations are used in multiple industries such as criminal
justice and journalism and the business world. Undercover operations have a very storied history
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and if one is able to do and qualify to be in an undercover unit that should be considered sort of
an accomplishment. There is a very long and deep training and setting up process for being an
undercover agent or doing something undercover and a person who does any sort of undercover
investigations should be a person of high moral standards. The question is often raised should a
Christian partake an undercover operations but that question is a question that there is no actual
answer to and the true answer is between the person and God.
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References
Evans, R. (2022, October 31). “There’s only one way to deal with a rat – put it down”:
the undercover officer who infiltrated Liverpool’s gangs.JThe Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/31/theres-only-one-way-to-deal-with-a-rat-put-
it-down-the-undercover-officer-who-infiltrated-liverpools-gangs
Brain, J. (2018).JBow Street Runners - Historic UK. Historic UK. https://www.historic-
uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Bow-Street-Runners/
James, J. (2000).JAllan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency | American Experience | PBS.
Pbs.org. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/james-agency/
Special Report. (n.d.). Oig.justice.gov.
https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/0509/chapter4.htm
Holy Bible
