It is well known that undercover operations can be very dangerous for officers. Identify three (3) possible dangers that officers involved in undercover investigations might face. Next, suggest the mitigating actions that officers can take in order to reduce the dangers in question. Provide a rationale for your response.

Imagine you are the director of a transit police department that is charged with securing both rail and bus services. Statistics show that you have major occurrences of robberies, juvenile violence, and illegal drug activities not only on the buses and trains operated by the transit authority, but also at the hubs where passengers migrate to board and transfer as they travel. Propose one (1) overall strategy in which you combine problem-oriented policing and investigation to tackle the identified issues. Provide a rationale for your response.

RESPOND TO FOLLOWING STATEMENT:

Officers involved in undercover operation face numerous challenges. First, officers are forced to intermingle with criminal subculture in order to do investigation and gather information. This situation is risk in that uniformed officers may refer to the undercover officer as a suspect (Dempsey & Linda, 2015). Second, undercover officers face challenges in that the bond which unites them with families and other society members becomes weak. This is because, they spend many hours with criminals and the possibility of developing deviant behaviors becomes high and this is a real tragedy as long as family and society are concerned. Third, undercover officers face social problems of entrapment (Dempsey & Linda, 2015). In surveillance operations, undercover officers are involved in facilitative operations. They engage in illegal activities which lead to violation of the law (Dempsey & Linda, 2015). Women officer in undercover job might also face sexual violence from men since the work is not well secured.

To reduce dangers associated with undercover work, officer should have an operational plan. This will help them understand what they should accomplish and how they should treat others. In addition, they will avoid being engaged in criminal activities by having clear goals of their work. Other point is that officers must ensure effective means of communication because, in case of any trouble or danger, they will ask for assistance from the supervisor (Dempsey & Linda, 2015).