Abstract
A survey of the 100 largest police departments in the United States was conducted to document the experience of police undercover operations and the existence of agency guidelines. Eighty-nine agencies responded, revealing that all 89 conduct undercover activities but only 64 have guidelines for such operations. Types of crimes investigated by police undercover operations, reasons for having or not having guidelines, and regional analyses are offered. One finding is that police undercover guidelines emphasize either procedure or authorization in undercover police work. Of the departments that have guidelines, more emphasize procedure (“how to”) than authorization (“when to”). Questions about this dichotomy and the impact of national accreditation standards are raised for future research.
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