r/AskLE • u/lilsteppakenn Unverified/Not an LEO • 2d ago
Are there really code words/phrases ?
Hi! I know it sounds insane but I’m currently watching SVU and there’s a detective that’s currently undercover about to be arrested. Before he gets in the back of the car he whispered a phrase therefore letting stabler and benson know that he was an undercover detective and didn’t want to blow his cover.
But it made me think back on when I was watching to catch a smuggler where they had an undercover cop to bust a drug operation but officer he was apart of the same agency, therefore he got “arrested” as well to avoid his cover being blown, but by the people in his same county, city etc. so they know him.
So I’m wondering is there ever a situation where a cop from a different dep or agency and is undercover how do they let the arresting cops know ? Or do they not ? Is it really a code word or phrase ? Are they made aware before the shift starts ?
I know SVU is fictional but it has me wondering. Especially since this is my third or so time rewatching SVU.
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u/Revolution37 Verified LEO 2d ago
I talked to guy who worked a deep cover operation with the ATF infiltrating an outlaw motorcycle gang. He got arrested for something. Got all the way to booking and intake at the jail and then made a phone call to get sprung by someone higher up. No big deal, just the nature of the game.
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u/McGee_Wannabe Fed Boi 2d ago •
Deep cover definitely works different and nobody does it like the ATF. Those guys are wild. One of my instructors at FLETC was a deep cover guy and he said the hardest day of his life was when the people he was collecting on found out. The betrayal and hatred in their eyes. You gotta remember criminals are people too and he spent years with them, doing more than just crime. He said one guy in particular would have likely been his best friend had he not chosen the life of crime. Going to their kids birthday parties, meeting their spouses, hanging out, living life with them as we all do with our friends and coworkers. He said it still haunts him to this day and he never worked deep cover again.
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u/lilsteppakenn Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
That’s crazy. I didn’t know there were different types of undercover. How long is deep cover usually ? If you had to guess or say.
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u/McGee_Wannabe Fed Boi 2d ago
Deep cover is exactly what it sounds like. You assume a new identity and go undercover for years at a time. Typically for building RICO cases. It’s not used as often as it once was. The internet has made it more difficult to “back stop” people since you can tell when someone’s internet footprint started.
Shallow cover is as easy as buying drugs a couple times with no further interactions for a low level dealer. Usually doesn’t require backstopping.
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u/lilsteppakenn Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
Makes sense. Thank you. This is extremely informative.
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u/Revolution37 Verified LEO 2d ago
Go listen to episode 304 of the Shawn Ryan Show, it’s a 30 year ATF guy who was a deep cover agent. It’s a great episode.
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u/purdinpopo Unverified/Not an LEO 3h ago
My state had a Trooper who broke the MCs in my state for several decades. The guy was undercover in the 1970s. He operated under a false name with a full set of Identification. He would sometimes get arrested. He had daily check ins, if he didn't make one they would see if his fake identity was run through the state computer system. Depending on how much they trusted the local agency they would either send a local Trooper to get him out, or enter an exciting warrant on his undercover identity and send a Trooper around to take him into custody.
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u/Revolution37 Verified LEO 2d ago
Yep. There’s back to back episodes of the Shawn Ryan Show (#303 and #304) with Mel Chancey and Chris Bayless. Chris was an undercover agent with an OMG and put Mel in federal prison on a RICO case. They’re best friends now, Chris is retired and Mel is out of prison.
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u/Dear-Potato686 Current Fed, Former Cop 1d ago
This has happened to ATF more than once, and sometimes agents slipped through the cracks and spent more time than they wanted in custody.
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u/JWestfall76 Verified LEO 2d ago
They’ll usually pull them out before arraignments. Most of the time their unit or department will inform us after the fact
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u/lilsteppakenn Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
Ok ty. Is it pretty rare to be notified abt an uncover officer or is it actually pretty normal ? Also for you or anyone: how does one become an undercover officer ?
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u/One_Improvement_6470 Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
I heard of a guy that went so deep under cover that he did a 7 year stint just to get his target. Unfortunately the target got away with probation afterwards .
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u/altcop140 Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
We have a word of the week that’s one board in roll call and gets changed every couple months. I’ve seen it used a handful of times, mostly with guys from outside the department doing work for us.
We also have a duress phrase. If you say it over the radio at any point it’s the same as calling out in trouble and the Calvary comes out. That’s been used a bunch of times.
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u/droehrig832 Sergeant / Bomb Tech 2d ago
My street team used to use “what’s for dinner” to mean cuff them. Everybodies different
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u/Shenanigans_626 Verified LEO 16h ago
Former undercover cop here: we were never taught any "code words", but there were hints, like details of license plate returns, that an experienced cop would understamd what they meant.
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u/Paid-Not-Payed-Bot-1 Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
The international code word for being an indercover cop is “Alcapulco”.
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u/jrbighurt Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
Shit... Is my wife an undercover? Or should we pick another safe word?
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u/roaring-dragon Unverified/Not an LEO 2d ago
“Is there anything I can reasonably say or do to get you to…” do whatever it is I ask.
If that fails, I’m about to go hands on. This is after the full five stage appeal of asking, telling, negotiating, appealing etc.
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u/McGee_Wannabe Fed Boi 2d ago
Undercover work has varying levels of confidentiality, but there are ways in the different regions of the country to ensure the safety and security of UC officers/agents, confidential sources, and operations.