THE LIFE OF A COVERT OFFICER

Danger is always lurking: The undercover drug deal that went awry
last week depicts the perilous work of a covert cop.

A frightening reminder of the dangerous nature of police work,
especially for undercover officers, played out on a residential
street in Southwest Memphis last Wednesday.

An undercover Memphis police officer met a crack dealer for what was
supposed to be a routine drug sale.

The dealer and a 16-year-old accomplice had other ideas, according to
police. They pulled guns, demanded money and discovered the officer's
recording device before firing a burst of shots at the officer and his partner.

The officers were not hit and their cool heads prevented them from
returning fire because there was an 18-month-old baby in the
suspects' car. The dealer, the teenager and the baby's mother were
arrested later.

Reporters for The Commercial Appeal over the years have chronicled
the work of the Memphis Police Department's undercover operation,
which experts have called the nation's best covert police program.

In November, as part of this newspaper's "True Crime" series,
reporter Kristina Goetz shadowed undercover officer 1335 as he
gathered evidence against drug dealers in the Hyde Park and Hollywood
areas of North Memphis.

"The officers who work deep undercover for MPD alter their entire
existence -- their names, their appearance, their tidy, secure
personal lives -- to burrow into the city's darkest and most
dangerous places where crack is sold openly, where stolen goods are
fenced, where prostitution rings thrive," Goetz wrote.

It takes a special person to work undercover. Reality is far removed
from how such work is depicted in movies and popular literature. It
is probably more stressful and dangerous than patrolling the streets
in a squad car. The fear of detection and retribution once arrests
are made is always present. Undercover officers have to be constantly
alert and ready to deal with any number of in-an-instant threatening
situations.

Wednesday's incident is a prime example of how the expected routine
can explode into chaos in a moment. Those bullets fired by the
suspects also could have struck a bystander in or near a home in the
neighborhood.

The incident also demonstrated the character of the officers and the
excellent firearms training they receive. If they had lost their cool
and returned fire, there could have been a dead infant or a mortally
wounded bystander.