REAL vs. REEL

[jurassic narc]

BACKGROUNDI have been asked many times if the plots from MIAMI VICE were realistic. Most of my friends are shocked when I tell them that the plots were usually based on investigations which were very similar to the cases I worked in the late 70s and early 80s.I spent over 32 years in law enforcement, and 29 of those years were as an agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). We are a state agency tasked with conducting investigations of crimes which occur on Georgia soil. That has taken me all over the United States, and I have been sworn in as a Special Deputy US Marshal, US Customs Officer, and Special Deputy Sheriff in several states. I have testified as an expert witness on various drug related matters in Georgia, Indiana and Florida. I spent about half my career in Drug Enforcement Offices (the other half was spent in General Investigations chasing rapist, armed robbers and murderers)Based on my background, I have touched on some of the aspects of MIAMI VICE and tried to give you some idea of how the show fit into the real world. Some artistic license is expected in any TV or Movie Production, but given the circumstances MIAMI VICE was not far from the mark.Hope you find the information interesting, and if you have questions or need clarification just asked them in this thread.NOTE: I WAS AN AGENT OF THE GBI, AND DID NOT WORK FOR METRO-DADE PD (although I did work with them on occasion). THE EXPERIENCE I HAVE, AND MY REMARKS IN GENERAL, ARE BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE.

[jurassic narc]

Part 1MIAMI VICE-Real versus ReelBig money for big risks. That had been the lifestyle in Miami and south Florida for a number of years, dating back to Spanish times. Guns and rum, and then in the 1970’s came marijuana. Marijuana came out of Columbia, but it was bulky and smugglers had to use all their skill and ingenuity to get it into the country. Big multi-engine planes were the game of the day, and DC-3s were dusted off and given new life as dope-haulers. Money flowed, and the good times rolled. But in Columbia, the profits were smaller and the need for cash flow seemed greater.Same plane, smaller load, monster profits. Cocaine smuggling was born in the late 1970s. And we are off to the races. Flying from Columbia, the logical destinations were Florida or Georgia. You had to put on a lot of extra fuel to make it any farther north, and the risk increased for every mile you flew. Big boats were a second option, but they were slow and the Coast Guard could intercept a boat without breaking a sweat. Air drops were another way to get the stuff over the border, letting the bundles of cocaine drop in the sea and then be picked up by a waiting cigarette boat. Sleek and fast enough to outrun Customs, at least until Customs got their own go-fast boats. But, even so the smugglers were just a bunch of latter day pirates, bringing back the load and humming a Jimmy Buffet song.That is until July 11, 1979, when rival members of a drug organization were machine gunned in broad daylight at Dadeland Mall in Miami. Suddenly the drug business was changed from a venture for Dock-sider wearing aging hippies out to make a couple of dollars and spread the gospel of the herb. Now the business was hard core, and deadly serious. Almost exactly a year later, a wet-behind-the-ears State Police officer in Georgia would be in a shoot-out with Florida based drug smugglers. I shot a former deputy sheriff from Florida who fired at me with a MAC-10 machine pistol as we moved in to make an arrest. I was on the fringes of the chapter of history that would become the DNA of MIAMI VICE. People ask me to talk about those days, but it is outside the frame of reference for the average person. A ton of cocaine was to be an average catch, and 20-30 tons of marijuana was a common occurrence. We became jaded, and a little shell-shocked. Occasionally a case would end up on the front pages, but we mostly toiled behind the scenes. It was hard to identify yourself as a narcotics officer in those days, since so many people felt like the drug war was a waste of time—just an extension of Vietnam.Then on September 16th, 1984, my co-workers and I were floored by a new show on NBC. It talked about “our world”. And it gave a hint of the schizophrenic life we led as undercover agents. We were validated, hell, we were stars.So with that background, I want to try to put MIAMI VICE in context with the world I knew. I am about to tell you that way too many of the VICE plots were not fantasy. They were far from it, with episodes based in the underground of the drug culture.THE LIFE. Sonny Crockett had all the toys to make the boys drool. A boat to live on, a boat to run your loads on, and a Ferrari to get around from place to place. His clothes were the most stylish, and his equipment was cutting edge—for the 1980s. But, can that really happen?The answer is yes. The character of Sonny Crockett reminds me of some of the best undercover agents of the day. A dual role, keeping the first name the same to protect from chance encounters with unsuspecting friends or family who might call you by name. A fake drivers license, thanks to the State (they issue the real deals, and would make undercover agents authentic license with the name of your choosing). And the toys were available thanks to recent changes in Federal and State laws allowing the police to take property that they could prove to be the proceeds of the drug business or that they were used to further the drug business. Admittedly, we didn’t use a Ferrari (the maintenance cost would be prohibitive), but the potential was there under the new federal provisions of the Asset Forfeiture laws.In fact, when the show first aired the government was just getting the picture that it was easier to catch the money going south than to catch the drugs going north. (A million dollars in assorted $5, $10 and $20 weighs over 250 pounds. The largest single cash seizure to date was from a meth distributor, in the amount of $207 million. It weighed more than 2 tons and was almost all $100 bills.) Cash was freely moved until the early 1980s. The first federal guidelines only required a bank to report cash transactions of over $10,000. So, houses, cars, boats and airplanes were purchased using suitcases, or even grocery bags full of cash. The loophole was not closed until October 1986.Home Base. Known as the Dade County Sheriff’s Office from 1836-1957, the Dade County Public Safety Department from 1957-1981, the Metro-Dade Police Department from 1981-1997, and now known as the Miami-Dade Police Department. With a jurisdiction of 2,431 square miles, it has been for many years the largest law enforcement agency in the Southeastern United States. It is the only county in Florida where the Office of Sheriff is appointed by a County Manager, and is most commonly refered to as the Director of Public Safety (although the Director still retains the statutory authority to appoint Deputy Sheriffs who make up the members of the Metro-Dade PD).Metro-Dade Organized Crime Bureau (OCB) was a common enough unit of a major police agency. Drugs were considered to be a problem on the scale with prostitution and other vice type crimes. They were front-lines in the war on drugs, and often had the best sources of information. They had to fight with their own bureaucrats to get the buy money they needed, since this type of policing was new to the money people in government. And money was spent, and arrests were made outside of your jurisdiction. So the press attention that politicians lived for was diluted (I have made several drug arrests in Florida and South Carolina, either deputized on the spot by a local sheriff or sworn in as an agent of US Customs). When we first see the OCB it appears to be populated by about 20 officers, who are probably assigned to the various sub-headings of the OCB-i.e. Narcotics, Vice, Organized Crime and Gambling were the most common units. As time went on the numbers appeared to dwindle, but that may have been more a result of TV production budgets than anything else. The building itself is never explained, but I had oversight over a drug task force that worked out of a seized building. Taking on a false business front (Gold Coast Trading) is not a common tactic, but some drug units do it. And using your undercover people for other types of investigations was done when you had an active set of circumstances and you needed their surveillance skills. The limited use of the Vice cops in Home Invaders (Season 1) was right on target. In most other cases, the officers assigned to the OCB would have provided support on the investigation, but would not have been in the lead. I think specifically about Florence Italy (Season 2), and Little Miss Dangerous (Season 2). The plots themselves and the characters actions were not illogical, but a detective from Homicide (or Crimes Against Persons, or whatever Metro-Dade called it then) would have been in charge of the case. But that would have meant that the producers would have to pay for another speaking part that didn’t necessarily move the story forward and cut into the music budget.Sonny. The character of Sonny Crockett would be your classic undercover narc. Local football hero, veteran, and veteran cop assigned to OCB. A stickler for the rule books, but driven to succeed in spite of the system that seemed to be working against him. His attitude towards his sources (informant is the common term, but then so is snitch, rat, etc. We preferred CI-Confidential Informant) is most realistic in Give a Little, Take a Little (Season 1), and The Good Collar (Season 3). While Noogie and Izzy provide great comic relief, they would be black listed for some of their antics (Izzy stealing the bug van in Bought and Paid For (Season 2) comes to mind). While the number of times that Crockett uses deadly force in the show is certainly excessive, it was not uncommon for the period. When I started policing in 1974, we shot down tires in chases every other week. Suspects were fair game if they ran (the Supreme Court changed that just a few years later in Garner v. Tennessee), and in the drug world the use of deadly force was expected. Dadeland Mall had set the stage for the escalation in violence that came with the cocaine trade. Today Crockett would be in on-going therapy for Post Traumatic Stress, but in those days Dr. Jack Daniels had the prescription for the problem. After my first shooting in 1980, I finished the deal and then worked the next day as well. There were no internal investigations on a shooting at that time. If the detectives (or in my case my immediate supervisor) said it was good, you kept on trucking. In fact, the review in Dutch Oven was about the extent of it. Of course the number of shootings attributed to Crockett would be excessive, and probably result in some mental instability. The most I know of any one officer killing in a career was eight, and that guy was no fun to be around. I doubt that Metro-Dade would let Crockett stay on the street with the number of KIAs he racked up. (As a comparison, Wild Bill Hickok can only be credited with seven kills in his lifetime, and Wyatt Earp probably only 5--and Wyatt policed in Dodge City, the town Miami was compared to in the early 1980s.)And the love life that Crockett enjoyed (?) was very much that of your average narc, too (for the run of Seasons 1-3). Divorce and the occasional office romance was a common occurrence. In fact, other cops or department staff, hospital staff, and airline employees tended to be the only normal people we met.Sonny’s loyalty to the other members of the team is exactly what you would expect, in spite of his by the book nature. He had been in combat with each and every member of the team, and Sonny was very aware of their weaknesses. His attention to Trudy’s emotional issues after the shooting in Dutch Oven (Season 1) is the kind of thing the seasoned veteran would be expected to do for the newer officer in a time of need. He was protective of Gina, and even had a soft spot for Switek and Zito in Made for Each Other (Season 1).Rico. Ricardo Tubbs had been a cop in New York City. So had half of the deputies in Florida, at that time. The better cost of living and the climate attracted retired NYPD cops like a light bulb attracts moths. So, Tubbs being able to jump right into law enforcement in Florida is not unrealistic. He would have had to take a few courses on Florida Law and then been approved by the Florida version of Peace Officers Standards. That he fell into drug work and undercover work so naturally was simply a bonus for his employers. I especially liked the fact that Tubbs was played as if his race was never a factor in any of the investigations. Tubbs was treated as an equal to Sonny in every respect (well, maybe the car he was issued was an exception-but then no one else drove a Ferrari, either). Tubbs was given a gold badge by Season 2, which is a quick jump to the rank of Sergeant, but that was most likely an effort to re-emphasis the equality between Sonny and Rico. And I always liked that he relied on a shotgun so much, rather than another high tech pistol. If you are a decent shot, like I was, the shotgun gave you a real edge in a gun-fight.

[jurassic narc]

Part 2So, let’s talk about the guns. Some people think the guns were a fashion statement like the clothes. But the guns used were rooted in reality. An undercover agent did not want to be seen to be armed in most cases, but if you were you did not want to be seen carrying a “cop gunâ€. Sonny carried a high capacity man-stopper (10mm and .45) throughout the series. Switek carried a high capacity 9mm, and of course Tubbs had the scatter gun most of the time. I carried a Walther PPK and a Walther P-38 with a cut-down barrel. When I was carrying the Walther P-38, all I had to do was be able to qualify with it. In about 1986 that all changed. From then on a gun had to be of a specific manufacture, a specific caliber (I was crushed because I loved to carry my .380 PPK stuck in my pants waist and the GBI decreed that a .380 was not powerful enough), and the gun had to be examined for correct function by a GBI Armorer to be approved. DEA did the same thing, but their list of approved guns was much broader. I suspect that Metro-Dade would have approved of the Smith and Wesson .45, but may have frowned on the Bren-10 if he had been carrying it later in the series.(As a side note, that P-38 had such a short barrel that the Range Master got pissed that my targets would be shredded. It seemed that the barrel was so short that the bullets would start to tumble as soon as they left the barrel. A 9mm rolling like that would have knock a suspect on their ass if they were hit. Would have been good for a shorter range, but would have ended the fight!!)Double action guns, with high capacity magazines were the fashion on the street (uniforms were still carrying Smith and Wesson wheel guns). Sonny would have bought the Bren-10 because he felt like it had the knock down he wanted with a quick reload capability. We see Sonny reload under fire on several occasions in the show (I grew up watching cowboys pump several dozen rounds down-range before reloading). In fact, the realistic gun handling by the lead characters was one of the most refreshing aspects of the show. Sawed off shotguns were illegal to have (except for the cops), so a crook might very well own one. Tubbs use of the short barreled scatter guns is completely in line with reality. You just want to be sure to be behind him when he lets loose. The ladies were usually armed with compact Smith revolvers, but they were easy to hide and worked every time.The gee whiz stuff. In the early 1980s the technical gear was not very sophisticated. We wore “tin can†body transmitters that got hotter than hell if you wore it too long. They carried for about the range of a kids walkie talkie, and lasted till the conversation really got good before they died. They did not pick up music, like the bug in Heart of Darkness (Season 1). They did interfere with radios and TV signals. I was in a guys apartment getting ready to buy some cocaine and a gun from him. He started complaining about his HBO, cause his picture started going crazy. I noticed that when I turned so the bug was closest to the TV, his signal went crazy and I thought his TV was starting to get the audio signal from the bug, too. So, I cut that sucker off! The guys who were covering me didn’t get excited, because the bug signal went out all the time. I had a recorder on too, so the deal was recorded without the bug (they were used mostly for Officer Safety). But I remember the scene in Heart of Darkness where they conducted a “bug check†(“Flash your headlights if you can hear me.â€). My heart almost stopped, and I couldn’t believe that they were revealing how the real cops did business!Cell phones were new, and stayed in the car. Phone taps were a lot harder to get, and more complicated to run than they ever appear on any TV show, but that’s just entertainment. The clothes were a little over the top. In fact, the clothes were the one thing that was hard to make fit the reality of narc work. They could have been seized, but getting your size was a challenge. The county could have paid for them, but that is not likely. In those days you bought your own clothes if you didn’t wear a uniform, and the clothing allowances were small (the State of Alabama gave Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) Agents $300 a year-the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) didn’t give us a dime). We did occasionally buy special clothes or boots for specific cases, but not for daily use. We never seized any clothes because the threshold for seizure was usually more than the value of the clothes. Each prosecutor can set a lower limit of value, and most times that was $500. We could articulate the value of exotic boots, but to try to value each article of clothing would have been pretty labor intensive. But then again, there is nothing to say that the clothes were originals. Even back then knock offs were seized by US Customs, and provided to law enforcement officers to use in undercover roles. The first fake Rolex I ever saw came in a batch Customs gave us to use. So the clothes could have come from a seizure and been placed into service. Visiting Club Fed. One of the things that really made my friends and I sit up and take notice was the realistic treatment of the relationship most State and locals have with the federal agencies. We commonly had good friendships with certain federal agents who had worked well with us, but held the agencies at arm’s length. This was most often the result of having investigations de-railed because of a federal agent who was ambitious or incompetent. Either way they managed to ruin the work that the rest of us had done. I think MIAMI VICE was the first show on TV to point out that the FBI and DEA were not the broad chested heroes we had seen on other cop dramas of the day (although over time that concept became more common-almost to the extreme in the opposite direction). And while it is never really explained in the pilot episode, Scotty Wheeler was obviously a Metro-Dade officer assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force. That would explain him being arrested by local officers, and the fact that he was still referred to as Lt. Wheeler. And DEA still uses local officers sworn as federal agents to work in their task forces (the SPIKE TV show DEA doesn’t explain it, but you notice that some people are identified as DEA SPECIAL AGENTs while others are identified as DEA TASK FORCE AGENTs).The rest of the team. VICE was the first TV show to tackle the inherent dangers to female undercover officers. The issues that we didn’t want to talk about in the 70s and 80s were hit head on in Give a Little, Take a Little (Season 1). I worked with a number of great female agents, and then later supervised some of the best. Females had a hard time being accepted in the uniform ranks, but were embraced by the narcotics units. The introduction of a female into an undercover buy situation would tend to “calm things downâ€. But, like Gina and Trudy, they had their own cases and weren’t just arm candy for the other members of the unit. The potential for sexual assault always existed, but we worked hard to make sure that females were not put in a position where they were too vulnerable. In fact, the chance that Gina took in Give a Little, Take a Little was very realistic, and the aggressive attitude she had on all her investigations was perfectly real. And Trudy’s chance to shine, in Dutch Oven (Season 2) is an accurate depiction of Post Traumatic Stress (we didn’t know what it was back then, but it is treated aggressively by police agencies today), and the reality of being a drug agent in a world where the lines between acceptable and unacceptable are fluid. In my career I have arrested friends, other cops, relatives, and neighbors on drug charges. One of the agents working for me went in to make an undercover buy and was confronted by his first cousin, a man he had grown up with and knew very well. Like all good agents, he denied that he was a cop and got the hell out!Petting zoo. First, let’s just admit that the logistics of having an eight foot alligator sharing a 40 foot boat with you would be awkward. And it was and is clearly against Florida and Federal law to have an alligator as a pet. But with that out of the way, I must admit that the concept is based in reality. I work with an agent who kept one or two rattlesnakes as “pets†when he was working undercover. The bad guys were so busy worrying that the snakes might get out that he could have made the buy in a full police uniform and gotten away with it.The crooks. When you think about the bad guys from Miami Vice, you think of Calderone, or Charlie Glide. Or maybe the Revillas from Prodigal Son (Season 2). If you think they were over the top, guess again. In fact, the reality was much more brutal than portrayed on MIAMI VICE or even SCARFACE. The Bolivian from El Viejo (Season 3) or Silva from Junk Love (Season 2) were some of the nicer guys who populated the Miami drug scene in those days. Murders of children, attacks on public streets using high powered assault weapons (similar to No Exit (Season 1), and indifference to the order of law were the order of the day. The brutality of the drug world may have been too much for the small screen in the 80s, but the villain in BAD BOYS II was right on target.Wrapping it up. Really the plots of Miami Vice were generally in sync with the times and the place. It only began to spin toward the un-realistic in Seasons 4 and 5. The whole "Crockett thinks he is Burnett" saga would have been a career ender for Sonny. He would have gotten a medical retirement, and might have been prosecuted--but most likely the Department would have wanted to quietly put that whole series of events to bed. It's unfortunate that there are some episodes in both Season 4 and 5 that are quite good (and very realistic) on their own, but the two seasons as a whole are not very realistic.

[Lar]

Now this is just plain awesome! One heckuva read! Thanks so much for all your info! I always knew MV was pretty realistic, but I never knew how close it really was!

[COOPER&BURNETT]

Fellow Vicers,This might very well be THE most interesting, thought provoking, and important thread on the board.Did anyone Know this about JURRASIC NARC?HE'S what we loved about the characters! HE'S one of the GOOD GUYS!What an incredible thread. Once you start reading, you can't stop!Interesting how MIAMI VICE, and real life could actually happen.Great side by side comparison. THIS THREAD IS BRILLIANT! :thumbsup::clap:Nice Going JURRASIC NARC!! WOW!

[jurassic narc]

Thanks for the kind words Coop!I have attached a few photos from that era. Two are copies of newspaper articles, and the third is an action shot of me going after a murder suspect. I am the one with the shotgun in hand.

[jurassic narc]

And here is another agent and I with an Aerocommander-one of the best smuggling planes of the time. It was popular because of the high wings, long range and small size. It drew a lot less attention than a DC-3!

[Mr. Calderon]

Not being a focus puller is always good to know someone worked at MDPD

[timm525]

WOW! Thank you so much for sharing that with us.Great information.

[Richie Rich]

Thanks, JN. That is fascinating stuff and an enjoyable read. And thanks for your service protecting us law-abiding type people .

[Murphy's Law]

That is such great information! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge with us - it was very enjoyable reading and offered such a unique perspective on the show.Thanks also for your service in law enforcement.

[Paul]

Wow Wow, and Wow. How good is that. Thanks heaps for sharing your experiences with us. For the average punter like myself it gives me a better insigh into the show.Generally speaking with all the cash floating around from the drug dealers, was there much corruption and how did guys like yourself handle this if you new a colleague was on the take.Cheers:D:DPaul

[jurassic narc]

Generally speaking with all the cash floating around from the drug dealers' date=' was there much corruption and how did guys like yourself handle this if you new a colleague was on the take.Cheers:D:DPaul[/quote']We locked up a number of Sheriffs and their deputies, as well as other cops. In South Georgia, where the loads came in most often, the locals made a meager wage and were very easy pickings for the big money guys.But it wasn't just the locals. I worked on the arrest team of a case where a Georgia State Trooper, a Department of Natural Resources Ranger, and a GBI Agent were running security for a load coming off a boat on the Georgia coast. I knew the agent very well, and was shocked when we arrested all these State Officers. But I wasn't as shocked as our undercover agent, who was helping with the off-load crew and was known to each of the crooked cops there. It was a very tense situation for him.We even had one group of dopers pay a Sheriff $10,000 to use the runway in his county up in the Georgia Mountains. The Sheriff contacted the GBI and we worked the case. He was an honest man, and wouldn't have cooperated with the crooks anyway, but the bad guys overlooked one little detail. They offered the money to a Sheriff in a county without a single runway, or place to land a plane. But then, $10,000 was nothing to those guys in the day.And now the Drug Trafficking Organizations out of Mexico have access to billions of dollars to lure cops in. Some things about the drug business haven't changed all that much since the day I started.

[jurassic narc]

That is such great information! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge with us - it was very enjoyable reading and offered such a unique perspective on the show.Thanks also for your service in law enforcement.

A big THANKS to all of you for the kind words. And yes, it was a job where you did occasionally risk you life. But the majority of the time it was more fun than a grown man should be able to have fully clothed. The people I worked with were fun (they had to be, 'cause on long surveillances we were stuck together for sometimes weeks at a time).Much like soldiers, when you tell them thanks they tend to brush it off. They are the ones I admire for the job they do. In fact, a few more SEALs in a few more ships and the pirate issue might go away. But then, that is the cynical cop in me--shoot the hostage takers, reload, and get ready for the next hostage takers.JN

[Tony D.]

Great Topic & interesting post, Jurassic Narc. Thanks!

[Murphy's Law]

JN - You deserve all the recognition in the world for your service.I have a question, too. In your opinion, would Crockett have been able to maintain his cover indefinitely or is there a 'life expectancy' for undercover work? Do you think the show got this aspect right? Thanks!

[Stinger390X]

Wow JN Thanks for sharing your info. Great read for sure. I focused on every syllable!I bought my very first Stinger 210 many years ago off a guy who owned a very humble motel in northern Ontario Canada. When I went to get the boat, I stayed for dinner and over night. That saturday night he told me many stories of his days as an undercover cop in Manhatten where he worked for his whole life.He had some wild tales and if you looked at the man you would never think this meager gentleman who ran a simple motel could have ever done the things he mentioned.Well they were good campfire stories for sure and he just wanted a simple life after the fast paced life ended. I actually told him that he should write his memoires and publish a book!Anyway...I respect the men of law enforcement who put it all on the line daily and have to live the life on the other side of the fence, and then put on a happy face and go home to their families.Kudos.....................................

[jurassic narc]

JN - You deserve all the recognition in the world for your service.I have a question' date=' too. In your opinion, would Crockett have been able to maintain his cover indefinitely or is there a 'life expectancy' for undercover work? Do you think the show got this aspect right? Thanks![/quote']My undercover work was done on a state-wide basis, and we used the same U/C names over and over. But for a county guy working in Miami-even though it is a big city-the crook world is fairly small. The name would have gotten around. I think it was just easier for the writers and directors to keep the name the same so that viewers wouldn't be confused by all the changes. Today, viewers are savy enough to keep up, but this was the first TV show to really try to realisticly present undercover work.It was like a bolt of lightning to me and the guys I worked with when Gina asked Sonny if he ever forgot who he was in the Pilot. His answer, "Sometimes I remember who I am." was great. I can't tell you how many times I woke up in motels, and had to work to remember what town I was in and what kind of deal we were doing.When I got married I left undercover. I got a regular job working murders. The hours were still bad, but I was able to talk about my work. I doubt that my marriage would have faired any better than Crockett's if I had stayed in the Drug Unit.JN

[COOPER&BURNETT]

I can't believe how great, and how important this article is.Comparing it to MIAMI VICE, a show that YOU love, makes it all the more wonderful to read.I re-read it!You really get hooked!I'm just curious. This is a rather lame question, but can an undercover cop (when not working a particular case, and not being undercover) issue a parking ticket, or pull someone over for speeding, or was that not what you were supposed to do, and therefore were not legally able to do so?

[COOPER&BURNETT]

If I had to take a guess, I'd say you currently own a weapon.Also, is the Daytona a car that is kind of a symbol of not only your love of MIAMI VICE, but also a symbol your undercover days, like Crockett?

[timm525]

...I think it was just easier for the writers and directors to keep the name the same so that viewers wouldn't be confused by all the changes. Today' date=' viewers are savy enough to keep up, but this was the first TV show to really try to realisticly present undercover work...[/quote']If I recall correctly, Sonny Burnett was not the only name he used originally. He was named Sonny Bates in "Glades" and maybe one other ep.I agree with you on the constant changing of the name for the show.Also, I would think that the Ferraris, especially a white Testarossa would have stuck out like a sore thumb and word of an undercover cop driving a white Testarossa would have killed his cover.He would have to rotate vehicles for this to be successful, but then again, it is a TV show.Just my opinion.

[jurassic narc]

I'm just curious. This is a rather lame question' date=' but can an undercover cop (when not working a particular case, and not being undercover) issue a parking ticket, or pull someone over for speeding, or was that not what you were supposed to do, and therefore were not legally able to do so?[/quote']Okay, this is a little complicated. I was a State Police Officer, assigned to narcotics. Most cops are the same way, city or county officers assigned to narcotics. DEA on the other hand, like all federal agents, is limited by their authority in what laws they can legally enforce. So, any local, county or state officer in most states has full law enforcement authority.With that being said, it is a terrible idea to make a traffic stop in an undercover car. Usually if we saw a violation we would radio for a uniform car to come make the stop. You will notice that none of the cars on the show had lights or sirens (remember how Crockett had to hold up his badge and wave it at they guy in Bought and Paid For?)Most local U/C cars don't have lights or sirens. As state officers who had to respond to emergencies all over the place (Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi). Which meant that we had the equipment to make a stop if we felt the need. But that was limited (by policy not the law) to violations where there was an immediate danger to the public (DUI or Reckless Driving, usually).

[jurassic narc]

If I had to take a guess' date=' I'd say you currently own a weapon.Also, is the Daytona a car that is kind of a symbol of not only your love of MIAMI VICE, but also a symbol your undercover days, like Crockett?[/quote']Yes to both. I was the highest ranking drug supervisor for northern Georgia. I did a lot of public speaking and training. I was the guy on the news, and far too many people whom I helped change their zip code (put in jail) are out there running around. So I almost always have a gun-well concealed, but with me.(The picture I attached is me being honored by Governor Perdue and GBI Director Keenan about a month before I retired)The car is a symbol of my life, both professional and personal. And it was a chance to build a 1inch to 1inch scale model of one of my dream cars from my youth. It is one of those things that always bring the closet Miami Vice fans out in the open when I travel in it.

[jurassic narc]

If I recall correctly' date=' Sonny Burnett was not the only name he used originally. He was named Sonny Bates in "Glades" and maybe one other ep.I agree with you on the constant changing of the name for the show.Also, I would think that the Ferraris, especially a white Testarossa would have stuck out like a sore thumb and word of an undercover cop driving a white Testarossa would have killed his cover.He would have to rotate vehicles for this to be successful, but then again, it is a TV show.Just my opinion.[/quote']You hit the nail on the head. It is hard to get young agents to understand this. You may want a red car to do undercover buys in because you want the dealer to remember you. But the rest of the time you want something in a bland color that doesn't stand out, since the second time they see a unique car of any kind you are burned (can't participate in the surveillance anymore because you have drawn unwanted attention to yourself).But, as you say, it is TV. And it is hard to imagine Crockett and Tubbs driving down the street, with "In the Air Tonight" in the background as they race to the deal in a beige Monte Carlo!

[Vicechic84]

That was incredible! It really opened my eyes as to how the show (and reality) relate to one another. Thank you so much for an interesting and indepth read on your own personal experiences.My hats off to you Sir!