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How To Become An Undercover Agent & What Do Undercover Agents Do?

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How To Become An Undercover Agent And What Do Undercover Agents Do?

Many of you might have this question in your mind, what do undercover do and how to become undercover agents? For the sake of answering all your queries related to undercover agents and their duties, we have come with an interesting article in which all your questions will be answered.

The undercover agents are the backbone of any law enforcement agency. They work without wearing the uniform to gather the evidence against any criminal, which can be used for prosecution against him. The undercover agents usually work with suspected criminals and gangs to collect evidence against them. The main challenge for a secret agent is to hide his identity yet gather the information, and both these are qualities of an undercover agent.

The word undercover agent and the undercover cop are often used interchangeably, and people might often get confused with their meanings. The meanings of the undercover cop and undercover agent are almost the same. A secret agent might be working for any of the law enforcement agencies like CIA or FBI while the undercover cop might only be an individual from the police department.

The undercover agents develop deep relations with the suppliers of drugs and gangs’ heads so that they can gather the information against them. A secret agent’s job can be dangerous at times because it involved deadly weapons and treacherous drug dealers.

Once the undercover agent has gathered the information and evidence, he can ask the Police department for arrest warrants and arrest the criminals himself or ask for help from the law enforcement agency he’s working for. The undercover agents might be called by the court to testify their statements in the court.

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What Do Undercover Agents Do

We have briefly discussed the duties of an undercover agent. Still, in this section, we are going to discuss in detail the responsibilities that you are going to do if you become an undercover cop or agent.

The essential duties of an undercover agent are as follows

· Work on different assignments being given to them

· Respond to non-emergency calls

· Gather information and evidence against the suspects

· Can do surveillance of an area until the desired goal is met

· Can be deployed for protecting the sensitive installations within the country

· Can work in a foreign country for serving national security objectives

· They will have to take the cover of different professions at home and abroad, such as beggars, businessmen, restaurant owners, or even teachers.

Requirements For Becoming Undercover Detective

There are different requirements that you must fulfill for becoming an undercover agent.

· First of all, the applicant should be a US Citizen.

· The person willing to become an undercover agent must be between 21 to 37 years.

· Must have a valid driving license

· For officer-level positions, an applicant must qualify for GL-07 or GL-09 level.

· The GL-07 level means that the person must be holding a bachelor’s degree while GL-09 implies that the applicant is the holder of a master’s degree

· Pass a written exam

· Pass the Physical abilities test. We shall be discussing this in detail.

· Qualify for a top-secret clearance and background investigation

Besides these, there are several requirements which we shall discuss in detail. Let’s begin by discussing the educational requirements for becoming an undercover agent.

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Educational Requirements

First of all, you need to understand that there are different positions for detectives in any of the agencies. The educational requirement may vary depending upon the job you want to join. You can join the lower-level ranks by having a high school diploma, but for senior positions, the minimum educational requirement is a bachelor’s degree. If you are planning to become an undercover cop or Detective in the US, you must think of pursuing your educational degree in criminal justice, law enforcement, psychology, or any other related area of study.

The bachelor’s degree program in the subjects mentioned earlier will help you gain the knowledge that will help you during your services. The courses covered during a bachelor’s degree include subjects such as English language, criminal psychology, criminology, and the working of the criminal justice system. All these courses will add significant value to your knowledge, which will help you during your professional career.

Another advice for you is to do internships while you are pursuing your education. Numerous internships are being offered to the students, start looking for them and choose the one which suits you the most. The internships will give you insight into law enforcement agencies’ working procedures and the way they operate. Secondly, you will gain work experience, which will add much weight-age to your CV whenever you are looking for employment.

Physical Requirements For An Undercover Agent

All the law enforcement officers need to be in sound physical conditions, but the undercover agents need to be more physically fit. The secret agents have to go through physical and mental examinations before they can begin working. If you are planning to become an undercover agent, you must start working on your physical health.

A regular workout, which includes running for a few kilometres and a daily gym workout, will be enough. You do not need to focus on building muscles; instead, you should be physically fit to carry out the assigned task.

Secondly, you must not have any sort of disability, which includes color blindness, deafness, or any other problems with any of your body organs.

Last but not least, you must be able to hold the secrets and not reveal your identity. Many of the agencies which hire undercover agents will test your ability to hide your identity. Your only focus shall be towards your goal of collecting the evidence rather than proving your identity.

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Training To Become An Undercover Spy

The overall training duration to become an undercover spy is 800 hours. During this duration, the emphasis is being made on the four key aspects. The first one is academics, the second one is operational skills, third is firearms training, and the last one is case exercises.

The training duration is 20 weeks and is quite challenging. Still, the good thing about this training in that the trainees are accompanied by their fellows who are also going to become undercover investigators in the US. The trainees enjoy the whole hectic routine due to the bond of friendship they have developed with their fellow trainees.

During the academic training, the trainees are being taught on various subjects, including law, ethics, and behavioral sciences.

The students also learn about different strategies to handle:

· Drug dealers

· Gangsters

· Terrorists

· Cyber criminals

Secondly, the operational skills are being inculcated into the trainees so that they are efficient in performing their duties. The operational skills which are being taught to the trainees include:

· Driving skills

· The methods of surveillance

· Self-defense

· Handcuffing

· Control holds

· Methods of Objects searching

Case Exercise

During the case exercise, the trainees are given real-time situations, and their abilities are being tested. For example, the trainees might be asked to interrogate an individual and take his confessional statement without using his powers. The case exercises are the test of abilities of these trainees, and the completion of their training depends upon their performance in these case exercises.

Firearms Training

In firearms training, the trainees are exposed to different weapons. The trainees are being taught how to handle them, use them in case it is necessary, and deal with situations in which the enemy has weapons. They are also being educated on the destruction level of different weapons. 

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