Pubdate: Wed, 15 Feb 2012
Source: Daily Times, The (MD)
Copyright: 2012 The Daily Times
Contact: http://www.delmarvanow.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.delmarvanow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/116

OC OFFICER'S SACRIFICE PAID BIG DIVIDENDS

Long-Term Undercover Work Led to Many Drug Arrests

More than 30 people recently learned the hard way that things are not 
always what they seem. A taxi company isn't always a taxi company, 
and its driver might be more than a cabby.

An unidentified Ocean City police officer gave up two years of his 
life to work undercover, operating a one-man taxi company known as 
Tipsy Taxi. This officer played the part, picking up and delivering 
many honest fares in addition to earning a reputation and building 
relationships with folks who were selling drugs and involved in other 
related offenses.

The operation was so well constructed and operated, even the Town 
Council members who approved awarding the taxi medallion to Tipsy 
Taxi were unaware of its true nature. Tipsy Taxi looked to all the 
world like a legitimate taxi business. And like some cab drivers, 
this driver built a network, buying illegal drugs from some of his 
fares either in the cab or after meeting them elsewhere.

But unbeknownst to those unfortunate souls who were fooled by this 
skilled and dedicated undercover police officer, their identities and 
crimes were being recorded and cataloged for future use in the courtroom.

It was a brilliant strategy that yielded a filing of more than 100 
drug-related charges against 34 suspects in all, some of whom have 
not yet been taken into custody; seven remain at large and will be 
sought by the state's apprehension team.

Without identifying the undercover officer or releasing many details 
of the operation, Police Chief Bernadette DiPino thanked him for his 
dedication to the operation. What most of us do not realize is that 
when working undercover, an officer must play a role 24 hours a day, 
seven days a week, or risk being identified as a cop and thereby not 
only being rendered incapable of completing the job, but also being 
placed in harm's way. That means you don't go home to spend evenings 
and weekends with your family. You give up your hobbies, friends and 
everything else in your life to become someone else. You cannot slip 
up even for a moment and give yourself away.

That's dedication so far beyond what most of us would embrace, it's 
almost impossible to comprehend.

The message to honest taxi riders is reassuring: that driver just 
might be a police officer in disguise. But to someone who's selling 
or using illegal drugs, the message is one of caution: next time, it 
might be a friendly bartender, a bus driver, a street performer or 
just about anyone they might encounter in almost any setting where 
the subject of making or executing a drug deal might arise.

It's easy to be scornful of police officers, to castigate them for 
appearing to abuse their authority or in other ways take advantage of 
their positions to receive privileges unavailable to ordinary folks.

But what they do on a regular basis requires far more dedication than 
most of us would offer our employers.

And they do it to help keep us safe from violence and other forms of 
harm. We should thank them more often.
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