A Team Like No Other

As members of the law enforcement community we have a very unique perspective on what it means to be part of a team. In baseball, "having each others backs" means pushing and shoving in the midst of a pile of people after a batter is intentionally hit by a pitch; no one willing to throw a punch, but everyone eager to look like they are playing the part. In police work, we literally have each others backs in  life and death encounters where the stakes are at their highest. Few other professions experience the kind of bond officers have for one another as a result of knowing we can count on each other in the darkest moments.

This story is not one of bravery or heroism where a fellow officer pulled me from the line of fire or wrestled a gun away from a suspect just before he was about to shoot me. But it nevertheless epitomizes the bond of brotherhood that I share with my fellow officers. As a homicide investigator in a jursidiction that has about 20 murders per year, a great deal of my time is spent investigating unattended deaths (DOA's), to make sure they are not homicides. Often, the challenge in these cases is not so much conducting a complex investigation, as it is dealing with the conditions in which the body is found.

Recently, I was the only investigator in the office when I received a call from a patrol officer on the scene of a DOA requesting me to respond. "You are not going to believe the condition of this place," I was warned by the officer. "We have been airing it out since we got here but it hasn't even made a difference." More specific, I was informed that the body was in advanced stages of decomposition and that the deceased had numerous pets in the home including three cats, two birds and a dog, which was found dead next to the dead man. Apparently, the animals had free reign of the house with no efforts made to clean up after them, no litter boxes for the cats, and the dog was seemingly rarely taken outside. Feces covered the floors of every room in the house. The smell was indescribable. Needless to say, this is not the call you go to work everyday hoping to get.

As I hung up the phone and prepared to respond to the scene, my Sergeant asked what the call was about. I described in detail what I had been told over the phone and without any hesitation, he said, "I will go with you." This is a case that we could typically handle alone and I had no expectation of any of my shift mates going with me, especially considering the circumstances. Yet, the Sarge insisted, "I'll come along, you don't have to handle that alone." We responded to the scene and he was right there next to me, every squalid step of the way. I know that had my shift mates not been tied up with other things and were present when I took that call each of them would have had the same response as Sarge. Partly because we each share the bond found only on the team we play for. Partly because we have a Sargeant that leads by example. I challenge each of you to ask yourself if you are the kind of teammate that would say, "I will go with you." I am very proud to be part of this team!

Remembering a Friend

I just registered for the Police Week 5k on May 12th. Being an avid runner, filling out online race registrations has become a pretty mindless and mundane activity. In fact, my information tends to autoload in many of the fields since I have done it so often. But today I was caught off gaurd by one of the information blocks on the registration; "running in memory of..."

In an instant my mind raced back to the cold winter night of January 25, 1994. I was finishing up my last night on the midnight shift (we rotated shifts weekly back then). I was a young and still very naive "veteran" officer with a whole year and a half under my belt. You could say I had a "flame" a mile long and was constantly on the prowl for criminal activity. My former FTO turned beat partner, Jim Walch, was quite my opposite. A Marine who lived by the mantra of "run your calls and back people up" and when you are not doing that be seen and not heard! Jim was constantly irritated by my need to be active and my calling out with suspicious situations which disrupted his reading sessions in the park. Make no mistake, Jim would always be the first one on the scene to back me up and I could hear him coming a mile away.

In the early morning hours of January 25th, 1994, even I was starting to wear down from a week of midnight shifts and looking forward to getting home and sleeping it off. Jim and I met for a cup of coffee a couple hours before the shift ended and had a great conversation, mostly about his ex-wife and the frustration she caused him and my daughter who was hitting the "terrible two's" at the time. When we parted ways Jim headed into the station to turn in a report and I headed to the 24 hour grocery store to buy diapers. We said goodbye until our daywork shift started three days later. Little did I realize at the time we were saying goodbye forever.

Had I known what would happen I never would have gone for those diapers. The store was quite a bit out of my way, but the only place that was open at five o'clock in the morning. While en route, I came to a red light behind two Honda Accords. Something about them aroused my suspicion as a approached them. For some reason they appeared to be together. This was confirmed as they both sped through the red light and made a u-turn. Suddenly my flame was reignited! I quickly turned behind them and attempted to pull them over (not thinking through how I was tactically and safely going to pull two cars over at once by myself). It did not matter, they were not about to stop. I would find out later that both cars had just been stolen moments before I came upon them. The chase was on. What happened next is a blur of tunnel vision one encounters when their adrenaline is bursting through their body. This is a summary of my memories:

• One of them is fishtailing
• When did the roads get icy?
• 1J1 I'm in a pursuit
• Crash, bail out, chasing on foot
• A lot of chaotic traffic on the radio
• Why are they not restricting radio traffic for me, I'm in a pursuit
• How long is this guy going to be able to run before he tires out
• Where the hell is my backup?
• Get on the ground Mother F-----
• 1J1 one in custody
• That's right, I caught your ass!
• Where the hell is my backup?

The next transmission I recall hearing on the radio was my Sergeant saying "Advise Car 10 its a confirmed 5300, 1 J 5." Translated this meant, advise the night supervisor Officer Walch was killed in a car accident. When I called out with the pursuit Jim had immediately turned around and started heading my way as fast as he could. In the minutes since we parted ways the temperature must have dropped just enough to create "black ice" on the road because it had not been icy all night prior to that. Jim's cruiser slid on a patch of ice and crashed into a telephone pole, bursting into flames. He died instantly.

As a 23 year old this was the first time life had really kicked me in the gut. For a long time I harbored alot of guilt and felt responsible for Jim's death. In the short time we worked together we had grown very close and I learned an awful lot from him. Its now 18 years later and I still think about him almost every day.

On May 12th, I will be running in memory of Officer James Walch, and I hope you will be too!

To register for the Police Week 5K visit http://nationalpoliceweek5k.com/.

And remember, run your calls and back each other up!

"An Absolutely Amateurish Operation"

This was the quote from the jury foreman after a recent trial of 20 defendants in a high profile federal bribery case in which all of the defendants were acquitted. What led to the "amateurish operation?" The leading cause was the unprofessional relationship between the case agents and the "star" informant in the case, Richard Bistrong. During the trial text messages between the agent and Bistrong which were described as "racy and vulgar" and included jokes about sex, booty calls, prostitutes, the informants wife and the agents girlfriend. As a result, the jury foreman concluded, "we found the governments witnesses to have little credibility" (Learn more about the case here).

This case brings to light a few cardinal rules for working with informants. In law enforcement we review the cardinal rules of gun safety every time we go to the range (assume all guns are loaded...keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger gaurd.....). But how often do we remind ourselves of the cardinal rules of working with informants before we immerse them in a major investigation? An investigation that could have negative consequences ranging from the loss of a case, allowing a criminal to go free; to getting ourselves hurt due to reckless handling of the informant.

So, here are a few cardinal rules of managing informants we should all adhere to:

1. Knowledge is power: Know who you are dealing with! All informants have baggage that must be identified and that handlers must always keep in the back of their mind. In this case, Richard Bistrong had  admittedly previously had a cocaine habit of $15,000 per month and regularly hired prostitutes. He was also convicted of bribing foreign officials; a crime of great manipulation and deception. Clearly, like many "cooperating defendants" we work with, Bistrong is a man severely lacking in character. That the FBI agents took on such a casual relationship with him could ultimately have cost them a lot more than the case.

2. Know their motivation! Clearly, Bistrong had a strong personal motivation as he was seeking judicial consideration in his own criminal case. But could it have been that he was also motivated to embarrass the FBI, the same agency responsible for arresting him? Given the high end lifestyle Bistrong enjoyed as a result of his criminal activities, one is left to suspect that he is a man of great vanity and ego that would enjoy the challenge of smearing the FBI.

3. Keep the investigator/informant relationship at a professional level at all times! Conduct yourself as if your career, your family and your life depend on the way you interact with every informant. Remember, this is not a mutually satisfying relationship-they work for you. They need you more than you need them. Without an agreement, they will go to prison, you will go home. They will lose their freedom, you will lose only the time it takes to develop another informant. Also, conduct yourself as if your actions are always an open book to the public. In todays technology driven society we must be ever aware of our actions being documented and monitored. If you would not want your words or actions to be revealed in open court than don't say or do them.

4. Most importantly; CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL. Never lose control of the investigator/informant relationship. You must be in control of thier actions at all times. After reading of the Bistrong saga, it is evident that the agents lost control of this relationship. I do not know the agents personally, but after reading the text message exchanges between them and Bistrong, it appears to me that the agents lost control and began to converse with Bistrong at his sordid level.

There are many other important rules to follow when working with informants. They are thoroughly instructed at the Signal 13 Training "Developing and Managing Informants" course, along with analysis of numerous other cases invovling informants. To learn more about this course please visit our website at http://www.signal13training.com/.

An Uncommon Courage

   In late 2009 I received an email informing me that the eight year old daughter of a brother officer, Pet Speight, had been diagnosed with cancer. I had come to know Pet as a frequent attendee of Signal 13 Training courses, as well as a fellow member of my department. Just a few months later on February 28, 2010, Lexi Speight passed away. Having a daughter about the same age as Lexi, I could not begin to imagine the devastation such a loss would cause. I wondered how I would even find the strength to continue with even a marginal existance in this world. That is, until I have had the opportunity to witness the incredible acts of courage and inspiration Pet and his family have displayed since Lexi's illness began.
   This past fall my young daughter and I attended the second annual "Laps for Lexi" 5k run. This is one of the many ways the Speight family continues to honor Lexi and keep her spirit alive. And what a spirit she is. It is hard to explain the surge of emotions I continue to feel when I reflect on the event. Lexi's presence was palpable at every turn. It was in the hundreds of purple balloons (her favorite color) that seemed to be everywhere. It was in the many photographs of her posted around the event, each with her displaying an infectious smile that would light up a room. It was in the care bears (her favorite toys) and all of her favorite snacks that were offered to runners in addition to the "traditional" bagels and bananas. Most of all, it was in the meticulous way that Pet, Cyndi and Lexi's sister Sammy celebrated all the wonderful things about Lexi and how they generously share their experiences with their community. What a wonderful gift they give us all by sharing their love of Lexi and continuing to celebrate her life with us.
    We in law enforcement exhibit and witness acts of courage on a regular basis. But I personally have never been as moved by witnessing courage as I was at the race that day. The Speights' showed me that courage is the determination to celebrate a beautiful life rather than give in to the insufferable pain of the loss. Courage is standing in front of a crowd of several hundred people with tears streaming down your face and sharing your memories of your daughter. Courage is finding a way to make good come from such a devastating event. And that is exactly what the Speights continue to do everyday in honor of Lexi.

    I strongly encourage you to visit the blog the Speights created to honor Lexi. They began the blog when she was diagnosed with cancer and continue to update it. Take some time to read about their experience, I promise you it will give you a better perspective on life and inspire you. The blog can be found at http://www.loveforlexi.weebly.com/. You should also visit Laps for Lexi on Facebook and learn more about the annual 5k race in her honor. If you are not busy next fall plan on participating; I promise it will change your life! Proceeds from Laps for Lexi are donated to childhood cancer research. You can also donate to the cause and send the Speights a message at the loveforlexi blog mentioned above.

5 Unconventional Ways to Develop Informants

Working with informants is a necessary, though often distasteful part of conducting successful investigations. This is usually because most of the time we are relying on criminals to help us get criminals. Our informants seeking judicial considerations often carry as much baggage as the suspects they are helping us get. However, with a little proactivity on your part, here are five sources for information that can be extremely helpful in generating cases and do not carry the same negative issues as the criminal informant.

1. Hotel/Motel Employees: Identify a hotel/motel known for attracting criminal activity. Contact the management of the hotel and offer to provide a brief (2-3 hours) training session in recognizing suspicious behavior and illegal contraband for the hotel work staff. The training should especially be geared toward frontline employees working the desk and the cleaning staff. Then implement an awards program for employees who provide information that leads to an arrest. This could be money from your agency, gift cards from neighboring restaurants/business that will also benefit from removing criminal activity from the area, or internal rewards provided by the hotel employer.

2. Car Rental Agencies: Have a car rental business in your area? Why not develop a contact at the office and educate them in common behaviors associated with drug traffickers in terms of rental vehicles. Do they have frequent customers who pay cash? Do these customers often rent vehicles for short periods like 1-2 days and return them with excessive mileage? Being tipped off to a customer who meets these characteristics could lead to a very large drug seizure. If so, a letter of appreciation to the employee/informants supervisor could go a long way in helping him/her in their job, as well as encouraging them to continue to provide information.

3. Pharmacists: Did you know that pharmaceutical drug abuse is the fastest growing threat in drug related crime? Yet, few departments dedicate any resources to handling pharmaceutical investigations. This in spite the fact that pharmaceutical drug abusers are increasingly involved in commercial robberies of pharmacies, residential burglaries specifically targeting elderly and infermed people, identity theft, as well as corrupt doctors. Many pharmacists simply turn offenders away who are attempting to pass fraudulent or suspicious prescriptions because they do not think the police will get involved. Take it upon yourself to establish a relationship with pharmacists and you could get tips on very worthy criminal suspects leading to outstanding criminal arrests.

4. Convenience Store Clerks: You know that store that stays open late where you and your colleagues gather for a cup of coffee to get you through the midnight shift? Did you ever notice the amount of drug related paraphernalia that they sell. Rolling papers, blunt cigars, glass vials (with cheap plastic roses in them to disguise their real purpose), "Blunt out" air freshener, etc. While you are sipping that cup of coffee, how about forging a relationship with the clerk and encourage him to call/text you the next time someone comes in and buys a "paraphernalia package." It can be a simple as texting you a tag number. In just such a situation the information provided by the clerk once led me to a pretty significant indoor marijuana grow operation. And all it cost me was a cup of coffee!

5. Bank Security Employees: Do you think it would be interesting to know about a person who deposits between $5000 and $9000 on three occassions on the same day at different bank branches? Did you know that banks should document such incidents on a Suspicious Activity Report which is available to law enforcement (but must not be disclosed to unauthorized individuals). By developing a relationship with the security personnel of a bank, you may receive a courtesy call alerting you to this type of activity and suggesting you might want to obtain a subpoena for a persons account information. This just might lead you to a gold mine of seizeable assets.

Ways in which to develop unconventional informants is just one topic that is covered in the Signal 13 "Developing and Managing Informants" course. You can register for this course which is already being offered in several locations in 2012, or learn how to become a host agency for the course and receive free training for some of your officers by visiting our website at http://www.signal13training.com/.

Rachel Hoffman Murder

Rachel Hoffman could have been anyone's daughter. A middle class, college student with an outgoing personality, Rachel was also a casual drug user and sold small quantities of marijuana to her friends. A felonious act, indeed, but in the scheme of the drug war, a very small fish, to say the least. So when Tallahassee police arrested her on drug charges in 2008 (for the second time in a year), investigators rightly set their sites on "working up the ladder" by offering Hoffman an opportunity to "work off her charges" by becoming an informant. Those of us who have worked narcotics do this everyday. Informants; the lifeblood of successful narcotics investigations, but rarely, if ever, without significant challenges. What the investigators handling Hoffman set out to do was properly ambitious and forward thinking. Ultimately, the investigators targeted two individuals with significant criminal histories who posed a much greater threat to society than Hoffman ever could. These two cold blooded killers are exactly the kind of people that need to be targeted and removed from the street. But it was how the investigators went about utilizing Hoffman to target these two individuals that ultimately cost Hoffman her life, and derailed the lives of her family, friends and the officers invovled. What follows is a summary of crucial mistakes made in this case.

1. Failure to know your enemy

Prior to sending Hoffman to meet her assailants, Daneilo Bradshaw and Adrea Green, the investigators failed to do a thorough enough background check and properly identify the suspects. Had they done this they would have known that each of them had extensive criminal histories including violence. Additionally, once the operation went wrong and they lost sight and contact with Hoffman, they would have been able to launch a much more intensive search, place detailed lookouts and conceivably taken far less than three days to find Hoffman's body. However, the bottom line is always safety, and if they had known about the extensive criminal background of these two, would they still have sent Hoffman to meet them alone? Or at all? Or, was there an alternative plan they could have utilized to achieve the same goal, but at much less risk to Hoffman?

2. Failure to Control

Rule #1 when conducting undercover and/or informant operations: CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL! There is a certain amount of inherent risk in every operation we do and the only way for us to minimize the risk is by being in control of as many variables as possible. The biggest variable to consider is the location of the operation. In Hoffman's case, the suspects changed the location twice after agreeing to the location chosen by investigators. The ultimate location they chose was down a secluded dirt road that was impossible for a surveillance team to adequately cover. Had the investigators insisted on keeping the original location, a busy public park, it is highly unlikely the suspects would have been brazen enough to brutally murder Hoffman with the risk of being seen by witnesses visiting the park. It is important to remember that ultimately, we have what they want; MONEY. They will come to us, often despite the warnings of their own sixth sense, as greed almost always supersedes good judgment.

3. Exceeding an Informants Capabilities

Despite our best intentions of targeting the worst offenders, we often ask too much of informants in pursuit of making a great case. In the case of Rachel Hoffman, she was arrested with approximately 1/4 pound of marijuana and less than 10 pills of ecstasy. Investigators encouraged her to set up a deal with Bradshaw and Green in which she would be buying several ounces of cocaine, several thousand pills of ecstasy and a handgun in exchange for $13,000. Several problems with this scenario should immediately come to light. First, Hoffman did not know either of these people and had never dealt with them before. This is a significant amount to be purchasing during a first meeting. Second, Hoffman had no familiarity with firearms and in fact, had never handled one before. In addition, there is no indication she had ever dealt in cocaine nor had she ever purchased anywhere near the amount of ecstasy she was being asked to buy. Ultimately, Hoffman, a lone woman, was given $13,000 cash and asked to meet with two career criminal men, who would be known to possess at least one firearm at the meeting. This was a recipe for robbery!

These are just a few of many issues in this case that will be analyzed in depth in our Developing and Managing Informants course.  If you are interested in attending this course please visit our website at http://www.signal13training.com/ or contact us at info@signal13training.com.

Getting Ahead of the "Front"

     Although the concept of providing drug supplies on consignment, or "fronting," is not a new concept, it is one that is being employed much more commonly these days. With the rising quality and cost of marijuana, especially, drug traffickers cannot afford to pay for a new supply when they receive it. Distributors are then left with the frightening prospect of being caught with large quantities of illicit drugs in their possession. The alternative is to front the drugs to their retail customers and postpone payment until the retailers have distributed the product to their customers and received payment. For the wholesalers this practice has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that the wholesaler limits the amount of time he is in possession of large quantities of illegal drugs. The wholesaler also stands to gain by keeping his clientele "on the hook" to them. Often the wholesaler will push the retailer to take larger quantities than the retailer is used to, or prepared to sell, thus giving the retailer the risk of getting caught with the load, and also creating an indebtedness with the retailer that will be used to ensure loyalty. In the code of the streets, once a drug dealer has established a debt to a supplier they should remain loyal to that supplier until the debt is repaid. In a market where re-supplies begin to amass more frequently than the previous shipment is distributed it is easy to see how a retailer can get themselves heavily indebted to their supplier.  When one comes to understand this concept they are able to understand how someone who may handle hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money over a short period of time can in essence be broke.
     The obvious disadvantage of fronting is the ever present possibility of the retailer being busted with a significant portion of the shipment still in their possession. Not only is the wholesaler out an extraordinary amount of money, but he now owes his supplier for a load that was almost certainly fronted to him. It is this domino effect that provides law enforcement with a golden opportunity to make an impact. By understanding how a significant drug seizure can impact a trafficking organization, we are presented with a unique opportunity to turn a good arrest into a great case. The key point to take away from this is that when you make an arrest with a significant amount of drugs or money (not both at the same time), understand that you have broken a chain of events. Do not view this through the small picture lens which will leave you satisfied with a "good" arrest and seizure. Rather, view the big picture and take this opportunity to the next level. Realize that the large quantity of drugs you just seized is about to be delivered to someone who may or may not have a large amount of money with them. Or, the large amount of money you just seized is destined for someone that may have a large amount of drugs with them (and who is a bigger fish than the one you have). Whichever is the case, the money is most likely linked to a previous shipment and the  drugs have most likely been fronted or are about to be fronted. Your challenge is to use this small window of opportunity to reconnect the distribution chain and deliver or collect from the other links. When you have successfully done this, you will have turned a "good" arrest into a "great" case!!

To learn much more about disrupting the drug distribution network and analyze successful case studies attend our Drug Enforcement for Patrol Officers course on October 28, 2011, in Upper Marlboro, MD. If you are not in the Washington, DC metro area and are unable to attend, contact us about the possibility of hosting this course at your agency's location. For more information visit our website at http://www.signal13training.com/.