Hate to upset folks, but I am not a secret agent.
I was raised into a Hi-Risk Industry. Mentors shared "observe", "pay attention" and the question always asked was "What did you learn Young 'un ?".
Just a brat and it was said I had some "knacks".
Watching dawgs, cats, birds, horses, cows, squirrels,and whatever else as far as critters.
Watching people, kids, men, women, of all kinds.
There is a difference in how a feral cat moves and a cat that lives in a house as a pet.
Animals do things right before it rains, or a cold front comes through.
Men that were doctors and surgeons have different hands than those that are mechanics, carpenters, metal workers.
Ladies that are nurses have different hands , and washed hands different from moms and housewives.
I'd seen the Beat Cop downtown, he was nice and great to kids.
I knew that was him out of uniform and could not see his face or his hair, that guy walked like that Beat Cop and sure enough, when we caught up, it was him.
I was raised into a Hi-Risk industry, and even way back then, a BG would kidnap a kid, to get adults to access valuables.
I had some "knacks" and I had my Mentors and Elders that includes a lot of folks, men and women, from all walks of life and experiences.
There was no gun schools, no training facilities, unless one went into the Military or Law Enforcement.
And one thing that always came out, was how folks raised "back when" has some common sense, smarts, and just paid attention and observed.
Country Folks going off to war, and the Country ways of reading weather, how to read folks, trails, sounds (trains, planes) and just growing up knowing how to shoot, as they did not like going hungry.
These skills assisted in War.
City Folks, had smarts too, and while some were raised in the country, some were not. So little things they had learned, assisted them in war.
Applies to Cops.
Doctors and Nurses can read folks real well - and this before ever asking a question to access or diagnose.
Teachers can read a classroom, and can tell when a kid is happy, sad, or something bothering them.
They know, by reading a kid, "something" like a new puppy is coming, puppy died, or the puppy was not around that morning before they left for school and worried.
Fellow down on his luck hanging around a bus station carries himself different than a criminal , shoulders are "carried" different, the walk, how they look /don't look at folks.
Folks can read family members. Oh one knows darn well wife and kids have a surprise, or kid goofed up and hangs that head, droops them shoulders and walks over a certain way and "I messed up and broke my toy".
This is different than that kid running into a room, jumping up and hugging a parents neck finding a toy on their bed coming in from school.
Yes, I was around Body Guards, I was bonded and licensed to do my work.
Cops, including Undercover Cops were folks trusted in and use in the work I did.
I had folks in Military and Law Enforcement share with me, and some were not from my state, or from the US.
Some had ties to Israel, UK, South Africa, and other places.
Bonded , and Insured and part of the deal, I was to never set foot in NY, or Chicago, and a few other places.
Exception was extreme emergency, and if these "emergencies" occurred I was going to be swamped with Security, and I had information and all that needed to be used, and all.
I never had to do this, thankfully, as that would have meant really bad news.
Still, some LE and I worked together. I knew the business facets and run certain circles.
Professional Thugs do Professional crimes.
They kidnap, they bypass alarms, they use burn bars to get into safes, they fence valuables and all sorts of things.
Tight circle of trusted folks. I am a Southern born and bred. I know the business.
Some Postal Inspector from up North talking as Yankees do, and the situation was one of the folks in my industry turning against like kind, and one of my buddies a Sales Rep getting hurt...
I wanted in.
Matter of principle, we took care of our own, and everyone's welfare was that important.
She knows squat about some Southern ways and norms. I grew up with this.
So I do my thing, with her, and others and we did what needed doing.
My LE friends, I had put me in jail. I wanted all my senses to pick up what was going on.
I'd take a swig of booze, splash some on, and come into a station house just a cussing , raising hell, fighting officers, and get hit with a baton too.
Oh I was ugly, hateful to the "heat" and "pigs" and whatever slur there was.
I observed, paid attention, spit my instant coffee at the officer coming into cell block and threw my baloney sandwich at him...
Later I would use what learned to stay safe on the streets.
One cannot get some things anywhere else, except by doing, and associating with certain kind of folks.
i.e.
Simple things that signal folks, like splitting a match from a matchbook.
In jail, the "cart" only come around so often. So those in jails split a match to make the book last longer to lit a smoke hand rolled with papers and tobacco.
So I'd split a match to light a smoke on the streets, and eyes picked up on that, and "he has been in". The exact perception I wanted to give out.
But I have staggered on a parking lot, looking like some drunk long haired hippie, approached Professional Thugs and distracted long enough for a sales rep to leave, or a sales rep to drive into a building with vehicle access.
I have looked like some Hi-Roller with talcum powder in my nose to look like Coke to inspect something with a UC lady Cop pretending to be hi-priced Escort, and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that was the mdse stolen, shipped through USPS, and my buddy was hurt over.
Secret Agent - No.
Just paying attention.
Hardest thing for a Cop to do when doing UC, is to not look or act like a Cop.
If I have snatched "something" once out of a shirt pocket , I have a hundred times.
Jeff White and I spoke of these things, he understands this.
He and I together look like a couple of guys that met attending kids school events or something, not anything as we really are.
Jeff does not have the "cop signals" as many cops do.
He argues with me about that, but what does he know ? *grin*
Professional Thugs and me and mine had a Respect if you will.
Makes no sense I know.
Colombians don't do this by the way...none I got too close to anyway.
Still I have had phone calls from enemies, even notes.
Parking lot, with a fence between us. Them and his, me and mine.
Person to Person I speak to a gentleman, and he informs me, "truce".
He has a Special Anniversary and he and his wife are going out, to eat, dance and have a good time.
He is taking time to see his daughter do something at her school.
"Would like to meet my wife, she is a great lady?" he asks.
"I would be honored, and I have no doubt she is a lady". I reply
Lincoln eases up, a door is opened , she steps out, approaches with her arm on her husbands, and I tip my hat, she bows and we are introduced.
Nothing happened, this guy kept his word, on what his "business" was.
So for a time, we had a "truce" and it was nice.
His folks did give some punks a headache, they busted into one of his places, vandals, and were caught.
Not a real good idea to vandalize property owned by such folks.
TV, magazines, books, movies, - something - changed how folks choose to perceive the world for themselves.
Seasoned Cops have shared time and time again, how they have to "de-program" the new folks, and get them "set straight" on what really goes on.
Textbook on Domestic Violence, is a bit different from that first response for many.
So are many other things.
Why does a homeless person wear so many clothes?
Even in Summer?
1. Protects from being knifed, hit with sticks and bottles, kicked, other make-shift weapons and harm to body.
2. "Backpack" with all possessions are on person, he/she has possessions at all times, even asleep. Concealed is concealed
3. Hands are free.
Today folks would be wise to pay attention to SouthNarc, Fred Perrin and others.
Turn off the TV and read Papillon, there are some real "street tips" in that book.
[Adult material, parental discretion advised]
The answers to a lot of life's questions come from within.
All one has to do is stop, pay attention, look around and think.
Keep saying you will shoot an unarmed civ. and this forum will come and bite you in the *** one day.
