Six Words: Sell, Compartment, Straw, Certain, Penetrate, Garage
During the night that I spent in the Richardson city jail, I was very surprised to see someone come in with a balaclava covering his face. I didn’t know why the jailers would let someone in wearing that disguise, or why they would allow him to keep it on. I didn’t even have to ask. The jailers told me.
He was an undercover officer and the balaclava was so that neither prisoners nor their families or friends would be able to recognize or to identify him if he penetrated a criminal group. Whether he was penetrating an auto chop shop operating in a garage, or a drug or counterfeiting operation, it was important that the bad guys not know that he was a cop. It’s a dangerous job and everyone wants to be certain that he is as safe as he can be.
He might be acting as a strawman, buying something that the bad guys are selling. I don’t know what other roles he might play.
Sometime later a man that I hadn’t seen before walked past the jailers desk toward the compartment that leads to the exit and the jailer who monitors the cameras and doors let him out. The jailers asked if I recognized him. Nope, I replied. They told me he is the man who came in wearing the balaclava. I’m guessing that he had probably changed clothes too, although I really don’t remember.
I do hope you are surprised that I spent a night in jail. I’ve debated whether to just end the true story there, or to explain. I haven’t decided.