General Interesting podcast guest tomorrow...

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SlapheadGiraffe

Posting Machine
Jun 21, 2016
1,742
3,431
Any questions for this guy?

'I've done really bad things': The undercover cop who abandoned the war on drugs

"Walking beside me through a market town centre is a lean, healthy, 46-year-old man. “So, you wanted me to show you how I used to look?” He draws in his stomach, rounds his shoulders, paws imaginary sweat from his cheeks, and suddenly I’m looking at a junkie – jumpy, wheedling, begging for a fix. “And this is how you walk when you’re going to score heroin.” Subtly hunched over a sunken midriff, he strides ahead, as fast as he can without breaking into a run. “It’s all in the stomach,” he grins when I’ve caught up. “It’s all about stomach cramps.”

For 14 years, Neil Woods would leave behind his wife and two young children, put on stained “charity-shop scally tracksuit bottoms”, and turn up in a town somewhere in England as a drug addict. “I was a sponge for colloquialisms and mannerisms. Street slang is very regionalised, even just specific to a town, so you have to adapt quite quickly. The biggest danger at the start of any job is that you’ve landed from Mars – and who are you?” Using a new cover story each time, the undercover drugs squad officer would gradually befriend destitute addicts, ingratiate himself with their dealers, buy drugs from them – and then have the whole lot sent to jail.

It’s a struggle to reconcile the faux junkie Woods used to be with the articulate ex-policeman taking me for tea and cakes. “Oh, but I loved the art of deception,” he offers. “And I loved the development of the skill. It’s a great thrill to be able to successfully deceive people. Particularly when it’s dangerous.” The dangers grew every year, as dealers cottoned on to undercover police tactics, and grew increasingly suspicious of a new face asking for drugs. One dealer tried to run Woods over, another held a knife to his groin, another pulled a 9mm Glock handgun on him. But the commendation awards kept piling up. Woods even helped formulate national guidelines for undercover operations, and trained officers all over the country in his skills. By his calculation, he consigned drug offenders to more than 1,000 years behind bars.

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He did feel guilty about jailing the hapless addicts who led him to the dealers. “But I told myself I was fighting the good fight, and that the ends justified the means.” This moral justification seemed more compelling with each new assignment, due to the ever-escalating violence deployed by dealers to deter communities from talking to the police. In Northampton, Woods discovered a chilling new punishment for informants – gang rape of a girlfriend or sister – and every heroin addict in Brighton warned him that if the local dealers thought he had talked, the next hit of heroin he bought would kill him. Woods had wondered why heroin fatalities in Brighton were five times the national average. This wasn’t an overdose epidemic, he realised, but dealers literally getting away with murder, making their victims’ deaths look like just another accidental overdose....
 

sparkuri

Pulse on the finger of The Cimmunity
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
38,176
50,207
What's our deadline for questions in the US Eastern Standard Time?
 

Team Bisping

TMMAC Addict
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
6,487
10,428
Do we have 'entrapment' laws in the UK? i've never looked into this, i wonder whether there's a line he can't cross when interacting with drug dealers leading to dealers getting off on a technicality.

Also, was he ever asked to use the 'product' or try to be coerced into taking it from either addicts or dealers?

In his opinion, what city (excluding london) has the worst drug problem?

Will marijuana ever be legalised in the UK?
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
what kind of drug activity exists in Leicester (if any) and Nottingham and Coventry and Northampton?

Who are they, where do they do their business?

I've read a bunch of books on gangs in Britain and undercover cops also.

Not drug related, Any thoughts on Kevin Fulton (infiltrated the Ira) and the apparent lack of concern for his well being by his handlers? They cut off contact and he took them to court......

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsung-Hero-Kevin-Fulton/dp/1844545520


Is he writing a book?
 
M

member 3289

Guest
I know a guy from the West Midlands with a terrible coke addiction.

Is cocaine use prevalent in this part of the country?
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
you need to prepare and organise this SlapheadGiraffe @SlapheadGiraffe no pulling up this page during the interview.
you need to get this in good order before he drops in.
 

GBK16

Well-Known Member
Mar 27, 2017
645
775
That's weird, I read something about him either yesterday or the day before about all the work he did and how he believes all drugs should be legalised and regulated.

Ask him about the time he got given a bag of drugs and he wanted to take a finger sized bit but the guy made him take an entire handful


Oh and also about the time he almost had a guy who was employed by the drug lord he was investigating as his backup during the investigation. Those two parts of the article stuck out the most to me and I'd love to hear more detail on them.
 

sparkuri

Pulse on the finger of The Cimmunity
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
38,176
50,207
Sounds like my main question was answered.
Should everything be legal.



What do you truly feel is behind the "war on drugs". Corporations? Labor concerns? Politics, power & corruption?
All of the above?



In what manner can those who've come to the same conclusion, voice their opinions tactfully, informatively, and most important, effectively, without fear of reprisal or harm, either physically or professionally to them or loved ones?


(This may be covered in the book)
Have you reached out to other former officers who share the same opinion, to form a coalition of sorts?
If so, is there internal correspondence between you, and entities of persuasion to relay your conclusions?




Other former officers.
Where do they go from here typically?
Government work appropriate for their transferrable skills?
Mi5, MI6, other governments, corporations........"freelance"....?





Thanks SlapheadGiraffe @SlapheadGiraffe & thanks in advance!
 

SlapheadGiraffe

Posting Machine
Jun 21, 2016
1,742
3,431
Got to ask about half the questions. Neil was talkative enough not to need us to and covered some answers in conversation.

Should be uploaded today.

Ps, Robbie Hart @Robbie Hart you may want to move to a more desirable part of the country after hearing some of his stories ;)
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
Got to ask about half the questions. Neil was talkative enough not to need us to and covered some answers in conversation.

Should be uploaded today.

Ps, Robbie Hart @Robbie Hart you may want to move to a more desirable part of the country after hearing some of his stories ;)
Nice one......look forward to listening to it......thanks
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
20:00 in he's referring to the "burger bar" boys......i couldn't tell what he was saying
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
Fucking Chris! Interrupts him when he's answering my question and asks another question and bye bye to the further detail behind my questions
 

SlapheadGiraffe

Posting Machine
Jun 21, 2016
1,742
3,431
Fucking Chris! Interrupts him when he's answering my question and asks another question and bye bye to the further detail behind my questions
I know! He cut him off a bit abruptly as he wanted to talk fighting!
Think you got most of yours answered though.
We originally had half hour with him and we were aware we were over running
 

Robbie Hart

All Kamala Voters Are Born Losers, Ha Ha Ha
Feb 13, 2015
51,649
51,954
Chris didn't know our guests name!
My back is so fucked from constantly carrying him!
get rid of him.............I can travel down and take some of the burden off..............he needs to be cut, do it today.