The Tense Final Mission of an Undercover Cop

What if you had to adopt a new identity and integrate into a small community to bring down a criminal network? Join me, Michael Bates, as I recount the tension-filled twists of my final undercover mission. With my two-year tenure coming to an end, an urgent call thrust me into one last covert operation in a regional town. Maintaining my Michael Bates persona, I switched to a maroon Toyota Berliner to remain undetected while infiltrating an organized crime group with help from an informant named Stephen Boy. In this episode, you'll hear how we navigated the labyrinth of challenges, from accommodation woes to Stephen's escalating paranoia, all under the guidance of my seasoned female detective sergeant controller.

Posing as someone's son with a sizable inheritance, I had to seamlessly blend into the close-knit community, balancing odd jobs and even joining the local AFL club despite my lack of experience. The mission hit a critical juncture when Stephen's paranoia nearly blew my cover, leading to a dramatic confrontation. Tune in to experience the anxiety, pressure, and strategic maneuvers that came into play as we worked to dismantle the drug trafficking ring. This episode is packed with suspense and high-stakes drama, a fitting end to my career undercover.

Chapters

• 0:00 Undercover Cop's Final Operation
• 12:31 Undercover Operation in Small Town

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to my podcast Whisper in the Shadows the true story of a real-life undercover cop. I'm Michael Bates and I was a police officer for 15 years in one of the country's state police forces. I was also an undercover cop for over two years, and all the episodes of this podcast are my true stories of what it's really like to be an undercover cop. Rather, I was Michael Bates, so full disclosure Michael is not actually my real name. It was my COVID identity I used on most of my operations. Everyone has a notion of what undercover policing is all about, whether you think they are a narc, a COVID operative, a dog or an undercover cop. Most people seem to confuse plainclothes police with being undercover. There is a very big difference, though. Most plainclothes police don't wear a uniform, so they aren't as obtrusive in public. Being covert is completely different, though. You become immersed in the world of your targets. When you're a police officer, part of your role is to investigate crimes. This means you try and find evidence to prove the person you have arrested has committed that crime. Now, this evidence can consist of physical, verbal, video and witnesses. When you're an undercover police officer, though, you are the evidence and you are the reason someone gets convicted of the crimes. That is both exciting and dangerous. So why don't we get on with the next episode? Welcome back to the Whisper in the Shadows podcast. I hope you enjoyed listening to the conversation I had with Paul Maloney as much as I did having it.

Speaker 1: 1:45

Okay, so we are down to my final operation. Although nothing had been formally said, I knew I was getting close to the two-year mark and, with a number of legal issues going on in and around the COVID unit, albeit from an external commission, they were not going to risk ignoring their own rules on things like length of tenure and employee mental health. So whilst I didn't know, I knew that the next stop would be my last and I had mixed emotions about that. This last stop was going to be a very different one for me, though, that was for sure. So I was generally relaxed, generally relaxing and just doing what I would normally do on my downtime. Generally relaxing and just doing what I would normally do on my downtime, which wasn't a lot. I'd maybe go into the office or catch up and go and learn to surf, and I also took up learning to fly. Well, I did four lessons.

Speaker 1: 2:35

Anyway, I was just cruising and one day I got a call to go into the office. I drive in and both of the sergeants were there and they usher me into the office. I drive in and both of the sergeants were there and they usher me into the office. After some small chit chat, they tell me they have an op and they are just waiting for it to be approved and signed off by the committee. Now remember how I said that there was a committee of senior people from the crime operations group who had oversight of which covert jobs would get done, and I was sceptical about one of those jobs not going ahead. Well, this was the same group, but, as it turned out, this one was approved. So the sergeants tell me the job's going to be in a regional town. It's about a three to four hour drive from where I lived.

Speaker 1: 3:17

My controller was going to be a female detective sergeant who in reality, was probably the best, if not one of the best, controllers I had. She was extremely knowledgeable about policing and investigations and I learnt a lot from talking to her. As it turns out, there wasn't a lot to do, so I spent a lot of my time doing just that. I got all the information and decided that I would keep the Michael Bates ID as the chances of running into someone who knew me as Michael in this town was negligible. But I did change over the car. I was given A maroon Toyota Berliner Berliner. Never heard of a Berliner. No, I hadn't either. They were a short-lived attempt to go head-to-head with the Holden Camira in the mid-90s. In fact that is exactly what they were A Holden Camira with a Toyota badge. Suffice to say, it looked like an unmarked police car. So I go home and await further information. I tell my lovely then-wife that I have another op coming up and that I'll be going away, unsure for how long, unsure exactly when, can't tell you where that went down. Well, the next day I went back into the office and was given the details of the op as it had been approved. I met up with my controller and we went out and had a counter lunch to discuss the plan of attack.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Now this town was very country. It had two or three primary industries that kept it going. But that was about all. First issue was going to be accommodation. It was scarce. The second issue was going to be not standing out like a sore thumb. Most people know everyone in these types of towns and new people tend to be conspicuous. Employment was scarce as well, and it is not like I could spend all day just drinking at the pub with an endless supply of cash without raising some suspicions.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Then there was the informant. His name, as I was to find out, was Stephen Boy. Was he a strange one? He had been caught selling speed. Apparently he had been part of the organised crime group that ran the local drug trade in the region. He had left this group some time ago, but his pitch to the drug squad was that he could get someone in, ie me, as an undercover police officer into the group and hence enable it to be dismantled and a large supplier and suspected manufacturer of speed taken off the board. Stephen lived outside of town, which meant meeting him on a regular basis was going to be easier than with most informants. There were very few people that would notice me and my controller constantly going to his house and meeting with him, but Stephen was also wildly paranoid and that was going to cause me all sorts of issues.

Speaker 1: 6:09

It was decided we would go up midweek to make it look a little less conspicuous. My controller and I drove up together. Well, we followed each other for the four hour drive to the town. I had already decided I was going to stay at the local caravan park and my controller was going to check into one of those motels. Thinking back, not sure it was me that decided that, but hey, just a quick note here. It was starting to turn cold, ie, to borrow a turn of phrase, winter was coming and here I was going to be living in a plastic cabin in a place where it gets to below zero in the nights. I think I drew the short straw on that one. Anyway, we both get settled and I am in contact with her via mobile phone.

Speaker 1: 6:51

To meet we actually had to drive out of the town about half an hour to a rest stop and meet there. It was all very clandestine. I went for a drive around town which took me all of about three minutes. There were six pubs in the town as well as an RSL. Two of the pubs had closed down, so realistically there were only four, and only two of those opened up after about 6pm. That left the RSL, the Club Hotel and the Broadway Hotel as the only places that resembled nightlife. These three establishments actually formed an entertainment triangle, if you like.

Speaker 1: 7:26

On a Friday night the townsfolk would migrate between the three depending on what time it was and what night it was. Usually you would start at the RSL. They had a disco, I believe they called it, but they did have a decent feed and also they had mixer cans usually Jim Beam or rum for only $5. Let's just say that I spent a fair amount of government money in that time when I was there on a Friday night. So, rsl first to get charged up in a feed, then you would go across the road to the club hotel where they usually had a band playing. Well, sometimes a band, most times just a single guy with a guitar and an effects machine. He was actually pretty good. Fun fact, there hadn't been an undercover operation there for about 10 years, the last one, the only one, being in the 80s, I believe.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Now I know this because Old Mr Music actually wrote a song about it. The first time I heard it I was drunk and became a little paranoid. So let me set the scene. I'm at the bar drinking with some of the locals I played footy with. That is another story that I'll come to. I decide it's probably time to break the seal, so I head to the back of the public bar to where the toilets are located. Old Mr Music is sitting about halfway in the public bar area between me and the toilets. He's playing a song that I had probably heard before but never took much notice of.

Speaker 1: 8:48

After that night I would. So I vaguely start listening to this song. Something about a new guy to town who was making friends with everyone, who was asking lots of questions and who was being everyone's friend. As I get right in front of him, he spits out the words he was a fucking narc and tried to bring the town down, or something like that. I literally heard he was a fucking narc and my heart skipped a beat. Mr Music was looking straight at me. Did he know? Had Stephen told him, or was it more likely he was making eye contact? Because I kind of tripped and fell a bit.

Speaker 1: 9:26

I went to the bathroom and had to catch my breath. Now I was drunk, so it made it even worse. I did what I had come for and then trapezed back to where I was standing at the bar. I did what I had come for and then trapezed back to where I was standing at the bar. The song had changed, but I was slightly freaked out. When I got back I asked one of the bar maids about the song. She told me that there had been an undercover cop in town and there had been all these drug busts around the weed trade in the 80s. The town had never forgotten it and they had written a song about it. I had two thoughts go through my head. Mr Music didn't know, and I wonder if I will get a song too. I don't think I did. Anyway, like clockwork, whenever Mr Music was playing and I had to go to the bathroom, he would be playing that bloody song and spitting those words out at me as I walked past him. I'm sure my body clock ran to it.

Speaker 1: 10:19

So my controller and I organized to go and meet Stephen at his place outside of town. He calls my controller to say he is available. We both drive out of town. She parks the car off the road and we go in my car together. Having people see my car at his place was the idea. Go in my car together. Having people see my car at his place was the idea.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Now, he lived off the grid. I mean not in a sustainable way, more like in a way that preppers do. His place was literally in the middle of nowhere and about 300 metres in from the road. His closest neighbour was about 600 or 700 metres from his house. There was no way anyone was going to be doing surveillance on him. We arrive, get out of the car and we are met by his wife. Now that threw me. I didn't actually expect him to have told his wife what was going on. Not sure why, as it seems logical, but still it threw me a bit.

Speaker 1: 11:12

During the conversation he was staying to get cold feet. He was as jittery as all buggery and his wife kept saying maybe he shouldn't do it. I get it. You're informing on a criminal group that is well known to disappear people, especially those that were members, in the face of police interference with their operations. He gave a very non-committal rundown of who might be running speed, where they were running it and who I might need to know. There were no real names and no real information that we didn't already have. I felt slightly uneasy with his flip-flopping.

Speaker 1: 11:48

Next question from me was say, stephen, how do we know each other? Now, that was a good question. He was like mid-40s and I was mid-20s. I was not going to pass as a member of the criminal organisation from another area, nor was I going to pass as his son. Besides, they would know everyone or be able to quickly verify someone from that organisation, so that was not an option. Hadn't thought about that, he replied. Maybe this isn't a good idea after all, we can call it quits but your charges don't go away. My controller chimed in Right, he said, coming to the realisation that he had to actually go through with it.

Speaker 1: 12:31

Now it was decided that I was going to be someone from his past's son and I had run out of options in the city and was looking for a fresh start. I had an inheritance, so I had money, but I just didn't want to be living in the city and and Stephen had suggested to come to his town and restart. Now we were only day two and he had colder feet than a penguin. I wasn't sure he would stick to the story, let alone remember it, but it was decided that we would meet at the Club Hotel public bar the following afternoon for a beer and for people to start to see us together and to get that cover story out. I mean, what could go wrong? Look, to be fair, nothing actually went wrong with that meeting.

Speaker 1: 13:16

I started spending more time at the club hotel and on the Friday night I got introduced to the pub crawl. That was this little country town. Only bad thing was there weren't many taxis here so very drunkenly I had to walk back to the caravan park after my night out. It was cold and it was about a 20 minute walk, not something I was going to enjoy. I lasted two weeks at the caravan park. The club hotel was like many country pubs and they had rooms you could rent. I discussed it with my controller and we decided it might be a good thing to be closer to the action. Stephen had mentioned that one of the licensee's children was actually heavily involved in the selling of Speed across the coast.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Living at the pub got me closer to him, so by week three I had moved into the club hotel. I was literally getting up at 8am, having breakfast, going back to my room and having a nap, going back to the public bar at about 11am, drinking and sitting at the bar like a barfly and then having lunch, then drinking some more and having dinner at the hotel restaurant and then back to my room. Ah, what a life. Drinking beer became like chewing glass and I was putting on some serious weight. I was also trying to get a job, so it looked like I fitted in.

Speaker 1: 14:33

I did manage to get two kind of. The first one was on a local farm planting crops for a week. Once the planting was done, the farmer didn't have any more work. I did, however, manage to pick up some work at the hotel. I washed the windows of the morning and made sure everything was clean and tidy for the start of the day. Didn't pay a hell of a lot, but I did get to see and hear most of what was happening around the place. I also managed to hit up a friendship with some of the younger like late teens locals, which led me to becoming involved in the local AFL club.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Now, I had never played AFL before in my life. Actually, I hadn't even watched it a lot. I was a football kid, but the people I needed to ingratiate myself with didn't play football, did they? So twice a week, I would go to footy training straight from the bar. Then after training, we would come back to the bar and have a few drinks. It was like I was getting into a routine. What I was getting into, however, what I wasn't rather getting into, however, was any targets whatsoever. In fact, I hadn't even been introduced to anyone by Stephen.

Speaker 1: 15:44

We put the pressure on Stephen to make a meet or introduction happen to someone anyone really in the group as he had not made it to that point and I had been in town for three weeks. So we were at the club hotel on a Friday night. Stephen was generally a skittish character, but that night he seemed even more paranoid. Of course he was drinking and I was paying, which I seemed to do a lot of on a Friday night. Admittedly, he had given us information that the licensee's son was dealing speed for the syndicate, which is why I was living there and trying to ingratiate myself into the family.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Anyway, stephen and I are sitting at the end of the bar. There was a guy playing his guitar, which was a normal Friday night. It was Mr Music in the front bar. You have to remember this was a country town, so even in the 90s there weren't any clubs. He had been muttering something about the fact that they were on to him and he didn't want to go through with it anymore. I was trying to calm him down to start with and secondly, remind him that he had to keep doing this if he wanted his get out of jail free card.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Now, usually I would get my controller involved, but it was part of the plan that we didn't know each other and thus being seen together in the pub would have been a big red flag. Here I am trying to convince Stephen that he had to start doing what he said he would and he was falling apart. The conversation was getting terser and terser. At one point he started saying I'm not a grass. I'm not a grass. You can get fucked. I am not going to grass for you. Now, just as he says this last sentence, the music stops, doesn't it? To this day, I am still unsure how much of the sentence was heard by anyone, as the music had been very loud and people were yelling and clapping at the time. As it turned out, probably no one heard it, but still, you see one of the bar maids. Her boyfriend was a member of this particular criminal group. But I just froze.

Speaker 1: 17:43

I started to get very anxious. I thought to myself he's blown me. My cover is blown. If the wrong people find out, I'm going to be taken out. Bush made to dig a shallow grave and will be shot and dumped in it. I slowly looked around to see if anyone was obviously looking at us. There didn't seem to be, which was a good start. I looked around, I leaned into Stephen and I said in a very low voice but still loud enough for him to hear if you pull that shit again, you won't need to worry about them killing you. I will take you out, bush, and top you myself. Now. My controller and I will be out at your place tomorrow morning. We are going to have a real robust chat about what the fuck you're doing and why you're wasting your time. Finish your drink, get on your bike and go the fuck home. If I hear you say shit like that again, I will smack the shit out of you wherever we are, even if we are in public. I know you'll probably get the better of me in the end in the fight, but you will be sore and sorry to start with. He just looked at me, then down at his beer and slowly nodded his head. He finished his beer, said goodbye to a few people and left.

Speaker 1: 19:01

The next morning, myself and my controller went out to his place and had a really good chat with him. She told him in no uncertain terms what his options were and that he needed to step up or he was going away. Obviously, he said he would step up and start to introduce me. We left him and drove back to her car. On the way back, we talked about Steven and how this was starting to become a waste of time. She decided we would give it another couple of weeks and we could see what would happen. I dropped her at her car and then went back to the hotel. I had training that night.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Now, to say I was hopeless at AFL wasn't probably accurate. I could mark a ball. I could kick a ball. I could also handball a ball. What I couldn't do, though, was put them all together while other people were trying to belt me and get the ball as well. I had no positional understanding. It really was hit and giggle for me, but our first game was coming up.

Speaker 1: 19:59

That Saturday, I managed to get a jersey and a pair of the smallest and tightest shorts I had ever worn in my life. I am surprised I was not talking in a squeaky voice. They were that tight. Anyway, I went to the game. A lot of the regulars from the hotel came as well to watch we lost. I think I dislocated my shoulder by getting kicked in it, but it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 20:26

After the game we all went back to the club hotel for a few afternoon drinks. While I was at the bar, one of the barmaids howled I was enjoying living at the hotel. Yeah, it's okay. I said Don't have to walk far when I want to go home, although it is a bit noisy on a Friday night, I said, laughing. Why is that? I asked. I have a spare room and was wondering if you'd be interested in moving in. She said I need the money and you seem half decent. Can I think about it? I asked yeah, sure, but I'll need to know this week. She replied. I got my beer and walked back to the pool table where everyone was.

Speaker 1: 20:59

Now, this was an interesting development. You see, jodie the barmaid, her boyfriend was a full member of this organised crime group whom I was trying to investigate or infiltrate. If I could ingratiate myself with her, then spend more time talking with her boyfriend, dave, then I might just get an in or I might just get killed, because it would be too suspicious One or the other. The next morning I had decided I needed to go back to the city for a bit of a decompress Both my controller and I drove back to the city and met up just outside in the western suburbs of the pub for a catch-up. I told her about the offer of a room at Jodie's and how it might be a way into the group through Dave. She said that it was inherently dangerous because if found out I could be dead. But she agreed to run it by her command and mine to see what they thought.

Speaker 1: 21:48

With that I said goodbye and went home for the night and got back to being the real me. Actually I lied. I went home and became really restless, thinking about the operation and how I could move it along, thinking about the operation and how if I put a foot wrong then I might not come home again. As you can imagine, that didn't make it a fun day at night at home and I decided to head back. The following afternoon I rang my controller and told her and she said that it should be back up. The following day I was not to do anything except sit at the pub, not even footy training. Reluctantly I agreed and I headed back up to the town. When I got back I was just in time to grab some dinner and have a drink or two. I got a call from my controller that night and she said that I could move in with Jodie, but there were going to be strict conditions. Feeling somewhat elated, I found Jodie at the bar and I asked her if the room was still available. It was, so I agreed to move in that weekend. So that's all we have time for in today's episode. Make sure you come back next week to find out about how my last ever operation went.

Speaker 1: 22:58

Thank you for listening to Whisper in the Shadows my true stories of a real life undercover cop. I hope you've enjoyed that episode. In the next one we'll explore more exciting stories from my operations. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Lastly, if you're an ex-COVID operative or undercover police officer, I would love to chat to you about your experiences. Or, if you're feeling dangerous, tell your stories on my podcast. Please get in contact by my email, which is whisperintheshadowspodcast at gmailcom. I look forward to you joining me next time.