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What do you have to do to be a
successful undercover agent?
Live like 'em. Look like 'em.
Did you ever have to use drugs to be
convincing?
Oh, no. You never do anything illegal.
You might simulate using drugs.
What do you meanPs,
You know, simulate it. It's easier to
pretend to use marijuana than some other
drugs, of course.
Did anybody ever suspect you were
doing what you were doing?
You mean did they know I was a narc?
Yeah.
Sure. One time I came out of this
place a nd there were ten guys waiting for
me.
What did you do?
I got help. There's always help around.
The short preceding conversation took
place between a Daily Nebraskan reporter
and an employe of the Nebraska State
Patrol. The man worked undercover for
the Lincoln Police Department in 1969.
He said he has nev.r operated in that,
capacity for the State Patrol. The
conversation was cut short when he was
called out of the room.
According to Lt. Rowe, head of the
Ni;biaska Slate Patrol Division of Drug
Control, any of the 20 division officers
may be working undercover at one time
or another. But, he said, "that's the hard
way to do it."
For the most part the undercover
officers work singly. More personnel are
brought into the case to serve the
warrants. Rowe pointed out that a large
number of State Patrol drug arrests are
made by troopers, spotting some other
violation. The drug violation, in that case,
is subsequent and incidental to the
or iginal reason for contact.
Rowe said arrests are made "at the
time it become apparent a crime is being
or has been committed." Then he
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modified that slightly. "You don't make
an arrest the first time of course," he
said. "That would ruin any chance for a
long range plan."
Drug-related arrests in Lincoln or
Lancaster County are generally handled
by one or a combination of three
agencies: The Lincoln Police Department,
the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office, or
the Nebraska State Patrol Division of
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Drug Control. According to the State
Patrol's Activity Summary there were
610 such arrests in Lancaster County
during 1972.
Deputy County Attorney Bob Gibson
thinks the three agencies are doing "a
good cooperative job of handling drug
abuse" in Lancaster County.
Gibson said the main emphasis of all
the agencies is on getting to the
"traffickers and dealers." He even
indicated a soft spot toward marijuana.
"I think it's generally true and this is
only my personal observation -that
habitual marijuana users are not in the
same psychological state of mind as other
drug users," he said. "And a marijuana
user doesn't usually resort to crime to
support a habit. It's just not that
expensive."
But Gibson said he wouldn't favor
decriminalization of marijuana simply
because "everybody's using it."
"That would be analogous to legalizing
shoplifting because a lot of teenagers do
it," he said.
Gibson said he would favor a possible
revamping of the statutes, particularly
those that pertain to people arrested for
being in a place where a controlled
substance is used.
"I he officers have to arrest anybody
then)," Gibson said. "The problem is in
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