Before I began my law enforcement career, I wanted to work undercover. I entered my police career at 19 year of age. It was in the 1970’s when the TV series Police Story was popular. I guess it was the draw of action. Working undercover is more than what is portrayed when you read a book or watch a TV show. The life of an undercover operative is filled with alternating periods of monotonous office work, surveillance, and meeting people under a believable false persona.
During my U/C time, I played drug users, drug dealers, a pimp, a sex offender, a rogue cop, and a pornographer. I dealt with addicts, abusers of all sorts, and even murderers. It was a serious business that took me away from my family more often than not. While most people would think this life is glamorous, it was everything but.
In the SJPD Chronicle books, I write about fictional situations. The characters who fill those pages are developed from interviewing undercover officers working in different assignments and different agencies. When you think about undercover officers, most people assume they are “narcs” but that’s often not the case. The good guys and the bad guys don’t look, sound, or act like you might expect and that is the point, right? I hope these stories make for gripping reading.
