I DON’T know his name, and if I did, you would have to pull my nails out to give him up.
All I know is that he is an undercover cop who has more guts than a herd of elephants.
Yesterday he was in criminal court before Judge Budd Goodman, at the center of a landmark case.
Attorney Hugh Jasne was representing Derek Johnson, 34, accused of selling drugs and drug possession.
On Monday and yesterday, Jasne made a spirited argument for the undercover cop who made the buy to identify himself in court.
“If his name is disclosed, the chances of him being identified [on the street] is almost zero,” Jasne told the court.
That is not quite the odds I would give after listening to the cop give an account of life as an undercover in upper Manhattan.
To questioning by Assistant District Attorney Steven Miller, Police Officer X, revealed he had been involved in 350 buy-and-bust jobs.
Now, why is this a landmark case?
Well, after that dodo bird Judge Dorothy Cropper demanded the identity of an undercover cop, some lawyers thought “what a good idea.”
“You see,” said Detective Paul Digiacomo, of the Detectives Endowment Association, “it is falling into a pattern.
“The lawyer will demand identities, and you only have to get two or three cases where a judge orders it, and if refused, there will be a dismissal or retrial. Hardly good recruitment material for undercover cops.”
But Judge Goodman, who court officers affectionately call “The Buddster,” wasn’t having any of it.
He ruled that Officer X will stay that way – anonymous.
“Thank you, your honor,” said Digiacomo.
And Officer X, went back on the mean streets where action talks and b.s. walks.