10-202 - Plainclothes Officers and Undercover Operations

The Department may use plainclothes officers in details or in undercover operations, to obtain information and evidence regarding criminal activities.

No Entrapment

Plainclothes officers shall not intentionally engage in entrapment.

Entrapment is when a person to commits an act or engages in conduct otherwise criminal, if the criminal design does not originate with the person, but is conceived in the mind of a government agent, and the person is by coercion, persuasion, deceitful representation, or inducement lured into committing an act the person otherwise would not have committed and had no intention of committing.

Undercover Status for Data Protection Purposes

1. The Chief of Police or the Chief of Police’s designee determines the undercover status of any officer.

1. Officers do not self-designate their undercover status.
2. The person approving the undercover status shall communicate this approval in writing to the Commander overseeing the Records Information section so the proper data practices protections can be put in place.

2. An officer with undercover status needs their identity as a police officer to remain covert on an ongoing basis, and the officer’s ability to constantly conceal their identity as a police officer is fundamental to that officer’s ability to fulfill their job assignment which includes being a third-party observer of illegal activity or posing as a criminal to catch others engaging in illegal activity.An officer with undercover status must maintain cover or an alias on a long-term or ongoing basis.
3. Officers with undercover status that willfully identify themselves publicly as police officers in situations including but not limited to: performing off-duty law-enforcement-related jobs in or out of uniform, appearing in media stories or publicly engaging in social media in a manner in which the officer is identifiable as a police officer, will no longer be considered to have undercover status.

Supervisor Responsibility

Supervisor approval

A supervisor shall approve all planned plainclothes details or undercover operations.

Supervisor presence

Some plainclothes details and undercover operations also require that a supervisor be present for the detail or operation (in addition to supervisor approval). These include, but are not limited to, controlled buys of illegal contraband or firearms, prostitution stings, and search warrants of structures (in accordance with P&P 9-301).

Undercover Operations Involving Prostitution

This section is intended to provide guidance for officers conducting undercover operations involving prostitutions. Investigations of this nature can be extremely difficult to conduct and are often closely scrutinized by the media, the public and the courts. To protect the integrity of the officer and the agency and to ensure successful prosecution of these cases, it is essential that these guidelines are followed and that officers conduct themselves in a professional manner during such operations.

1. It is the policy of the Minneapolis Police Department that officers shall not engage in sexual contact, expose their genitals, or commit other criminal offenses, to convince others that they are not associated with law enforcement.

1. A plainclothes officer in a decoy role shall not expose their private body parts, including female breasts, to a john or a prostitute, and shall not touch the private body parts, including female breasts, of a john or a prostitute.

2. A plainclothes officer in a decoy role shall document in their report any unsolicited touching of the officer’s private body parts by a john or a prostitute.

1. The officer shall immediately disengage from the unsolicited touching and document how that was accomplished in the report.

2. All complaints of prostitution or sex trafficking occurring in a “massage parlor” shall be referred to Regulatory Services for licensing investigation.

Response to Calls and Identification of Plainclothes Officers

The quick and effective recognition of plainclothes officers is important for the safety of plainclothes officers, uniform officers responding to a scene, and the public.

Response to calls for service

1. Plainclothes officers should only respond to calls for service when the responding plainclothes officer can be clearly recognized as a police officer, unless a non-response by the plainclothes officer would likely result in injury to another.

2. Plainclothes officers should always assume they are not identifiable or recognized by other responding officers. They should always announce their non-uniformed response to an incident by notifying MECC Dispatch, and give a general description of themselves and their squad or vehicle.

Display identification

When taking police action in plainclothes, officers shall display their badge or department-issued identification card. Whenever feasible, plainclothes officers should be wearing identifiable police jackets or vests when taking police action or at a crime or incident scene.

Obey orders by other officers

Due to the possibility that plainclothes officers are often not recognized by other officers, they shall obey all orders given to them by other officers, including orders to disarm themselves, place their hands in the air or assume other non-threatening positions.

Uniformed response

When circumstances permit, the use of uniformed officers is required to make arrests, traffic stops, or investigatory stops.

1. In accordance with the policy on Search Warrants (P&P 9-301), a uniformed officer shall be present when executing a search warrant.

2. All non-uniform officers participating in the execution of a search warrant shall wear an outermost garment with the word "POLICE" on it.

Definitions

Refer to the Commonly Used Terms page for general definitions.