ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, UNDERCOVER PART II, LICENSE PLATE RECORDS, AND DRUG MONEY - 053

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This week on the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast's one year anniversary, undercover part two, license plate records and drug money. I'm Adam Richardson, and this is the Writer's Detective Bureau.

Just days away from our one year anniversary. This is episode number 53 of the Writer's Detective Bureau, the podcast dedicated to helping authors and screenwriters write professional, quality crime related fiction. And this week I'd like to thank gold shield patreons, Debra Dunbar from debradunbar.com, C.C. Jameson from ccjameson.com, Larry Keeton, Vicki Tharp of vickitharp.com, Dharma Kelleher of dharmakelleher.com, Chrysann, Jimmy Cowe of crimibox.com and Larry Darter for their support.

I'd also like to thank my newest Coffee Club patreons, Terry Thomas, Carol Tate, and Marty Knox, along with all of my longtime Coffee Club patreons for their support month after month.

You can find links to all of the writers supporting this episode in the show notes at writersdetective.com/53. And to learn about setting up your own patreon account for your author business, visit writersdetective.com/patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.

August 6th, 2019 marks the one year anniversary of this podcast and this podcast has been listened to over 26,000 times over the course of this year. So to say thank you, I will be giving away a few prizes on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019 just in case you're listening, those in the future, but you can enter to win by going to writersdetectivebureau.com/entry for your chance to win a Writer's Detective Bureau coffee mug, a private story consultation with me, or even a full license for the latest version of Scrivener writing software. So I will be drawing the winners after I get home from work on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019 so the actual time of the drawing may vary depending on what emergencies I'm handling that day.

So when you go to writersdetectivebureau.com/entry you'll see that I'm using one of those contest websites that encourages you to share the contest with your friends. It's like for additional chances to win, but that is not my goal here. So I want to say thank you to you, my loyal listeners. So when you go to that page you should see that you get entry points for only three things, by entering your email address, that way I can notify you if you win, for following me on Twitter and for following me on Instagram.

Anything else like sharing the contest with your friends on all the different platforms and stuff gives you exactly zero extra points. So I'm not trying to gain more followers by doing this. This is a contest just like I said to give back to you. Oh, and about that email address you will use to sign up. I am a big fan of privacy and I hate spam, well at least the email kind. So the only thing you will get by opting into the sweepstakes is the monthly APB email from me, which is filled with curated links for crime fiction writers.

And if you don't want to get the APB emails, you can unsubscribe from that at any time. And speaking of the APB email. Today, which is August 2nd and I still haven't sent out the APB for August because I've been working nonstop ever since that last podcast episode dropped, and for the foreseeable future, and I'm talking about my day job. My next day off is over a week away. So, and this is ... Okay. What I'm about to share here has been a knot in my stomach, literally making sick to my stomach, making me ... I can't even speak.

It's really impacted me having all of these work days, wrapping up the book that has a delivery deadline in just a matter of days. I mean it's not even two weeks away. And I have come to the painful realization that the book is not going to be ready in time. So if you are one of the amazing folks that pre-ordered the book, I am so so sorry for failing to deliver. At this point there is only one thing I can do, and that is to be upfront, open and honest about how this all happened and share the ramifications that I'm going to be encountering here.

Well there's also finishing the damn book, but real quick, let me explain how this happened and what the immediate consequences are going to be. You might remember that I was interviewed on the Creative Penn Podcast in early June of this year. So at the time of that interview I was well into the second draft of my book, and I felt super confident that my book would be completely done by the end of the summer. And realizing the opportunity I had by being featured on such a popular writing podcast, I went ahead and put my book up for pre-sale on Amazon and immediately the countdown clock started ticking.

And if you haven't done a presale on Amazon before, I mean that, that there is actually a literal countdown timer on the page. So there is no question how much time you have until your deadline. Now, Amazon sets the final deadline for your manuscript three days before it goes out as a live release. So with my launch date set at August 18th, it means I had until August 15th to get it turned in, which is still a couple days away. And back in early June, I totally thought this was a cinch. But despite my diligent efforts throughout the summer and not because of procrastination, I still came up short on time, and it's given me a completely new understanding, perspective and appreciation for what you guys do in putting your books out.

And since I'm not going to be able to meet this deadline, all of my presales are going to be lost. So thank you to the 68 of you that pre-purchased the E-book version. I feel beyond horrible for letting you down. And as a side note, I did see a few weeks ago that the book earned an Amazon Orange Number one new release banner that happened with 62 presales in its subcategory. And I'm only sharing that number and info as an indicator of what it may take for you, sales number wise to get the orange banner.

Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about the orange banner. I know many of you will have that as a goal when you release your book. But when I saw that with this book, or it's not even a book, it's the concept, it's the second draft of this book really. But when I saw that banner, it really filled me with dread and anxiety. Surely a sign that things were not on track. So the most important thing for you to know about missing your pre-sale deadline is that not only do you lose your presales, Amazon also prevents you from offering presales for a full calendar year.

Now, this is not going to have a devastating effect for me personally as this book is pretty much a one off. But if you are starting your career as a self published author, this would be devastating to your business as presales count as first day sales when it comes to calculating bestseller status. So anyway, I will end it here about the book. I just wanted you to know, it's still coming very soon, just not in the immediate next few weeks, unfortunately.

I'm teaching fall semester as well at the college where I work in addition to all the other stuff I do, so that time demand we'll be back in full force in a few weeks as well. But anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to apologize to everyone that I let down, to say thank you for the support during the presale and let you know exactly what was going on. So now let's get onto making sure your books are on track for a spectacular launch with this week's questions.

Gina Kern writes, "Hi Adam, I just finished listening to your podcast number 52, regarding longterm undercover work. Can you go into more detail about how they get ready to go under cover, what their handler is looking for, and a little more on what being undercover longterm can do to someone mentally and physically? And finally what happens when they finally are done with being undercover and why they would be pulled or is there a resource I can go to for this information? It's perfect for my current novel. Thanks, Gina."

Thanks for the questions Gina. How they get ready for longterm undercover work probably differs for each person. First, I should explain that these agents volunteer for these assignments. You have to be the right fit for this kind of work on a multitude of levels. Your people skills, your nerve and your psychological resilience, your willingness to put your life on the line for these kinds of cases, which many people may not find worthwhile, and then also being level headed and quick thinking.

All of those things are what go into choosing the right person for undercover work. As for the handler, they are often more like a trusted partner and not necessarily the boss that makes the decision as to who comes into that assignment. And then getting back to preparation for undercover work. They will of course, also have family or social responsibilities to deal with like anybody else. I guess they may not have the same kind of social responsibilities. If you are already preparing to go into U/C work, but it's still odd whether that's friends or family if you just vanish for months or years.

But odds are that the social stuff won't be too big of an issue if you already opted into U/C work in the first place, but your family, especially if you are married and have young kids will be very hard to deal with or to explain how and why you're leaving and there's a pretty good chance that this case is going to lead to your divorce.

To get to your next question. U/C's can be pulled for a variety of reasons. The most immediate would be because they believe their life is in danger or their cover has been blown. And a lot of times this would come from the case agent or their handler. Because there's going to be more than just having an undercover involved in this investigation. There are going to be other things going on as well. So it's also possible that the law enforcement agency may no longer support the idea of running this operation, whether that's a budgetary reason or case concerns or whatever. But that would also certainly lead the U/C being pulled out.

And lastly, the U/C would be pulled whenever that case actually accomplishes their case goals, the goals of the investigation, when the big bust is coming. Now, it could be that the U/C is taken down with the other members of that criminal organization because they never get the chance to get him or her out. But either way, that's just the end of the case. And then after their stint as an undercover is over, they're still going to have to testify at subsequent trials. And if you're working in an investigation that involves a large organization, you're going to have multiple trials and you're going to have months or years worth of collected evidence and reports to go through and prepare for testimony and all that kind of stuff.

I mean just because you're no longer doing the actual undercover work doesn't mean you still aren't involved in dealing with that investigation. But then ultimately, they're going to end up continuing their law enforcement career, and whether that means another undercover case somewhere else geographically or a new type of assignment elsewhere within that agency or even possibly a promotion, it's really up to the agent or officer or you, really as the author writing the agent's story.

As far as other resources, I highly recommend the book Under And Alone by retired ATF Special Agent Billy Queen. It is a fast read. It's like you're sat down over beers and he tells you the story. It's an amazing book. Another book worth checking out is retired ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns book called No Angel. So both Billy and Jay will give you some insight into longterm undercover work and just how devastating it can be to the psychological welfare of both the U/C and their families.

Zack Daniel writes, "Love the podcast. Thanks for such an invaluable research tool. My question's related to running plates. Specifically, who or what agency would run license plate numbers? What kind of information would be provided when a plate is run, name, address, phone number? And a story set in the mid 1970s, how long would it take to get a plate number run? And if a criminal had a contact on the inside to run plates, who might that individual be and what agency would they be in? Thanks again, Adam."

Thanks for the questions Zack. Nearly every law enforcement agency I can think of has the ability to run license plates. The agencies are connected through a nationwide telecommunication system that has been around for many, many decades. In the 1970s and even to today, every police officer on patrol will use their radio to run license plates routinely. Now modern patrol cars have this function in car computers as well, but most agencies will still run plates over the radio in addition to the computers.

So when an officer pulls a car over, he or she will advise dispatch of the vehicles license plate and the location of the stop. And very often that's when a license plate gets run. The return from this check will provide everything you see on your vehicle registration card. So it won't have your phone number, most likely, at least not that I've ever seen, but just like what's on your registration card, it will include your license plate number, when the registration expires, the year, make and model of the car, the VIN or vehicle identification number, the name and address of the registered owner, the name and address of the legal owner, which is usually the bank, the vehicles finance through or the lease holder.

And then when plates are run through the system, they are simultaneously checked in the stolen vehicle system database as well as whether they're wanted in association with a crime or a wanted subject. So from the time the dispatcher sends the request, it often takes under 10 seconds to get a return. That's modern day, at least. In the 1970s when requests were done via teletype, I'd still expect the return to come back within a minute or two. I mean, it's a pretty quick turnaround.

Good accomplices for you to create as your mole could be police dispatchers, someone working in the records division of the Police Department or even an employee of The Department of Motor Vehicles. The vehicle license database that we in the police departments are querying with our systems actually belong to the DMV or whatever your state's equivalent is for the department of motor vehicles. So an employee of either agency, the police department or the DMV would potentially have access to those records.

Coffee Club patreon Marty Knox, whom you can find at martyknoxblackmesa.blogspot.com writes, "Recently, severe budget constraints are effecting my favorite place in Northern Arizona, Navajo County. In my imaginary small town of Black Mesa, Arizona budget constraints are an issue. My protagonist is a consultant for the local small town law enforcement and a grant writer as well as a cyber forensics expert. What grants are available for small town law enforcement for upgrading computer equipment, for database software subscription, for night vision and other important equipment? I've researched drug confiscations. Does the money trickle down from the Feds, to states, to counties, to small towns, such as cars, money, weapons, et cetera? For example, in real life, a huge drug bust happened when the dealer hit a cop car. Tons of drugs and money. Thanks. I love your podcast."

Well, thank you very much Marty, and thanks for being one of my patreons. There are all manner of grants available for community oriented policing, especially for small local law enforcement agencies. I mean there are a bunch of different places you can find information about grants that are available to law enforcement, but one of the primary ones are provided through the community oriented policing cops program through the US Department of Justice.

So you can check out those federal grants available through the cops program by going to cops.usdoj.gov/grants, and I'll include that link in the show notes. So the local law enforcement agency would apply for a grant through that website. And the grant is usually part of an initiative aimed at tackling a specific type of problem. The grant will usually require some sort of oversight or approval for any equipment purchases or reimbursement for overtime of the officers, in an effort to ensure that the money is being used in furtherance of the grants intention.

Now, that said, it's usually pretty easy to demonstrate how the equipment the agency wants to purchase can be used to combat the problem identified in the grant. So just looking at the main page of the cops grant page right now, I see anti-heroin and anti-meth grants, as well as a coordinated tribal assistance grant. But let's use one of the drug grants as an example to get you the digital forensics equipment and the night vision optics you asked about. So your grant writer character would explain in their grant application that to effectively combat the heroin sales in the community, investigators will need to target the dealers of the heroin.

And these dealers will often use electronics communications equipment like cell phones, tablets and computers to do business, and being able to effectively search these devices for evidence of drug sales is critical to combating the heroin sales in our community. So we will use this grant money to purchase digital forensics equipment and the licenses for the digital forensic software needed to conduct these investigations, and seize this type of digital evidence.

Similarly, your grant writer could argue that drug dealers often conduct their transactions under the cover of darkness, and the investigator's ability to conduct these investigations would be greatly enhanced through the purchase and use of night vision equipment resulting in more effective and safe surveillance and enable the capture of drug dealers. Many of these grants do require ongoing documentation showing the effectiveness of the grant monies, like stats for all the heroin dealers you're investigating, your investigators are racking up or the amount of drugs that have been seized and taken off the street.

Anything that shows that it is the direct result of the grant money and that's how grants tend to work in law enforcement. The other thing you alluded to Marty through drug confiscations is what is called asset forfeiture. This is actually a section of law that allows jurisdictions to go after certain money and property through civil actions, meaning the county can go after a drug dealer for any property he bought with the proceeds from his drug sales or any property he used to facilitate his drug business or any money that were the proceeds of the drug sales.

So if you were dealing drugs from your car, we might be able to seize it. Did you buy a ski boat with your drug money? That might be gone too. Now, it would be up to us to prove that that's where the money came from, but it is possible. And it's important to understand that there has been some major reforms to asset forfeiture since the 1980s heyday of asset forfeiture. So it isn't quite as simple as I just made it sound, but it's very possible for the local prosecutor, like the DA to file a civil forfeiture motion to take possession of the drug dealer's car.

Then that car would be auctioned off and the proceeds would be divvied up amongst the DA and any agencies involved in the investigation, usually done in equal shares. And there are asset forfeiture laws at the state and federal levels, but the rules can vary greatly by state to state and difference between state and federal.

Now if I, I'm trying to think back, if I remember correctly from my narc days, the Feds, usually the DEA used a form called the DAG-71, so D-A-G-7-1. If you just throw that into Google, you should get an example of what that form looks like. But the DAG-71 was the Department of Justice form used for divvying up the forfeited assets between the DEA and then any local agencies involved in the investigation.

So if Black Mesa Police Department was involved in a drug case and there was money that was seized, there would be a slice of the pie that would go directly to Black Mesa Police Department with which they could then use to pay for whatever equipment they wanted and that kind of thing. So it's not trickled down so much as it is. If you were involved in that case, you should get a piece of that asset forfeiture pie. The asset forfeiture law as it relates to drug sales in California at least is section 11470 of California’s Health and Safety Code.

I realized you're writing about Arizona, but if you want to see an example of the law and maybe it may help you find a similar law in Arizona, I will provide a link to that in the show notes at writersdetective.com/53. So thanks again for your question Marty. You can find Marty's work at her website martyknoxblackmesa.blogspot.com.

Thank you so much for listening this week. Don't forget to enter the podcast anniversary giveaway by going to writersdetectivebureau.com/entry. Thanks for making this the best year yet at Writer's Detective. I appreciate you so much. So have a great week, write well.