I get really upset when negligence puts the the lives of officers at risk. Having been involved in numerous covert operations it really hits home when it effects those officers involved in such activities. Here is a story from the LA times about the compromise of undercover police officers because their photographs were accidently leaked to the public. It is really difficult to see how this can happen unless there was total incompetence on someone’s part combined with a failure on behalf of the agency to have adequate systems in place to guard against such incompetence.
Undercover policing is high risk. Officers are able to penetrate criminal and terrorist gangs to gain evidence and thwart their activities.
While we could spend sometime debating what constitutes an 'undercover' police officer for the sake of discussion let us just work on the assumption that it is an officer whose real identity needs to remain covert in order to fulfil their role in protecting the public. It falls upon the police department to ensure that where there is a collective list of who these officers are, together with their identities is kept SECRET. Only someone in charge of the program should have access to such identities. If you have these on a secure access controlled database then these identities cannot be released 'accidently' by someone who has no clue about the consequences of such a release.
Of course the additional benefit of having a secure undercover management system is that all undercover operations are well documented thus providing public accountability in a way that can be controlled. For example, in the United Kingdom there are comprehensive oversight mechanisms supervised by a High Court judge ensuring that all covert activities are done in accordance with human rights /civil liberties and in accordance with law.
A purpose built IT solution brings many benefits. The opportunity for corruption is reduced, there is clear oversight of who is doing what and when, all records are kept to an evidential standard and visibility of all expenditure in connection with the operation.
If you want to make changes within your department and are not sure what you need to do please get in touch. For the time it takes to write an email info@hsmtraining.com or make a call +447739370969 you might save your self a lot of time and your agency a lot of heartache. We are here to help you.
