Good Cop, Bad War
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Good Cop, Bad War
Narrated by:
Malk Williams
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
-
Malk Williams
About this listen
As an undercover police officer with the drugs squad, Neil Woods regularly risked his life on the streets, dealing with some of the most violent and unpredictable criminals in Britain.
Good Cop, Bad War is a unique story about a man with a striking ability to infiltrate and extinguish drug gangs but who, as the success of his operations grows, becomes disillusioned with the war on drugs, as he sees how it demonizes those who need help whilst empowering the very worst elements in society. This is an action-packed true-account listen like no other.
©2016 Neil Woods (P)2016 W.F. Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
Exceptional
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The drugs problem is such a global problem and governments are not making any progress. Is ra adical change of thought needed to make a difference?
Neil Woods had written an excellent and informative book about his often suicidal missions as an undercover police officer in the lawless world of drugs their use and distribution.
He comes to the book with the stance of a police officer wanting to put away criminals, however as the book evolves and he understands the problem from a grass roots perspective you can see his belief about how to tackle the problem drastically change.
I too have changed my opinion on this global problem, originally from reading Johans Hari’s book Chasing the scream which comes to the same conclusion as Woods.
Also another accompanying book is American dirt by Jeanine Cummins. This book highlights the problem from a Mexican mother just trying to save herself and what little family she has left from the drug cartels of South America.
This book has left me with feeling that we do have some very valuable solutions and answers to this drug problem but wonder why there has not been a global shift to tackle this problem.
Has the corruption of the underworld already influence governments and the like that they can not make a change?
Firsthand insight to a global problem
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, I would recommend this audiobook but listeners and readers should be aware that it isn't about the author's "undercover life inside Britain's biggest drug gangs" as the cover would have you believe.The author Woods was an undercover cop but not an "infiltrator." He was a drug "buy and bust" expert. Rarely did he operate above the level of street level users and dealers.
Having said that, it is a good read (listen) and I can only repeat the review I have previously left on Amazon. I hope it helps.
My review is based on listening to the Audible version of this book.
Where to start in my review of this book? Rarely these days do I read a book that radically changes my opinions. On the subject of drugs, I have long held an open mind neither advocating the use of illegal drugs nor condemning those that do. I am not a hypocrite. Neil Woods, however transformed my thinking about the “war on drugs.” I am now a firm believer that all countries starting with the UK and US should follow Portugal’s example and decriminalize drugs. Not do away with all sanctions but copy the lead shown by Portugal in putting health first and cease treating the drug user as a criminal. Note, I say user and not the trafficker in drugs.
The author’s message is one of an end to prohibition in its entirety and it is rammed home relentlessly. It has clearly become a crusade for Mr. Woods and I wish him well. Before I continue, I have a disclosure to make. I am now a writer and like the author of this book a former British undercover cop. I have also written a book about my undercover days [ [ASIN: B01JUTPN30 Undercover: Operation Julie - The Inside Story (Kindle) ] ] and I suggest that readers interested in this genre of memoirs ought to read both in tandem. Between the two books, it will give you a real sense of what it is to work undercover and a thorough grounding in the history of British drug culture.
Apart from the strong message about decriminalization, Woods also tells a shocking tale of life in the streets of urban Britain, a subterranean life of homeless people and drug addicts. These are the streets he inhabited and the people he associated with in his undercover role. He was a “buy and bust” expert rarely infiltrating the drug scene above the very lowest level of the distribution chain. He was unlike me, where my role involved me infiltrating the higher echelons of the “food chain” to borrow Woods’ phrase. I would not have swapped places with him for “all the tea in China.” I admire how he dealt with the constant squalor and violent street level dealers. The higher up you operate in this chain, the more sophisticated it gets both in the characters of the traffickers and their modus operandi.
That brings me to one of my few gripes about this book. Woods seems to give the impression that he “invented” undercover drugs work. He wrote that undercover work was “so new in those days.” I beg to differ but I say no more about that. My other gripes are mainly based on technical points such as early on in his career the book has him addressing his sergeant as “Sir.” A sergeant is never addressed in that way. That minor issue may just be an example of co-authors falling between the cracks and a lack of proof reading by the one author who should have known better.
I also have a problem with his account of firearms being used by some of these dealers he says he encountered. The fact of firearms possession was never written up in his evidence book. My jaw hung in disbelief at the thought!
One thing became clear about Woods’ personality – he was determined even to the extent of working a case on his rest days. On reflection, is that determination or an obsession? I often pondered whether he would have been better suited to a caring profession such as a social worker.
There are other things I found strange. For example, in the middle of an undercover operation he stayed at a five-star hotel with a posh restaurant dressed like a street drug user. Why? The book is riddled with peculiar anomalies like that which perhaps only someone with my experience would note.
It’s no wonder the author makes an admission of doing “bad things.” The best example is the incident with “Billy.” Woods in his UC role persuaded Billy to “up the ante” by supplying 1 kilo of cocaine instead of his normal street “eighths.” Billy got 5 years!
Woods’ chosen cover often involved him posing as a “speed freak” or user of heroin or crack cocaine. This was an incredibly reckless tactic leaving him open to discovery and worse. It’s one thing giving off the aura of an addict but to go to the lengths Woods went to was courting disaster.
On the subject of discovery, the author mentions on several occasions being subjected to an interrogation by dealers but the book is sadly lacking on detail of exactly how he managed to persuade his interrogators as to his “authenticity.”
It was interesting that the author confessed a need to “learn about people” early in the book. He’s right. Any good police officer, undercover or not, needs to understand human nature. Policing is a people business.
One further device I found irksome was the author’s extrapolation of involvement in the downfall of organised crime gangs (OCGs) by his street-level UC activities. To claim that by scoring one rock in Leicester from a man with Jamaican connections to him uncovering an international drug ring with mention of the DEA thrown in for impact, is one such example.
I ask the reader of my review to also understand I was a criminal defence barrister for 14 years after my undercover days. That may help you understand why I query the author’s statement that a notorious gangster was on bail for murder. Really?
I reiterate the book gets better as it progresses. One can only have the utmost sympathy for the likes of Cammie, Davo and Gary as well as the “sex for sale” girl. I too have met these people and Woods paints a compelling and truthful picture of street people.
Ultimately despite my pickiness over technicalities, I found this an enjoyable and enlightening read. It was both enlightening and horrifying to learn how much the tactic of undercover policing had been overused (and abused) during the tenure of Mr. Woods. Clearly the lessons learned from Operation Julie were ignored. I also found it encouraging to learn that present day undercover officers are now better cared for than in my day. No one should underestimate the real mental stress of working undercover.
Without the technical issues I have mentioned, this would have been a 5* review. Alas, I feel compelled to deduct one star but don’t let that deter you from reading this book.
You may also may be converted to the “gospel” of decriminalization It should be mandatory reading material for all politicians..
Who was your favorite character and why?
None.Which character – as performed by Malk Williams – was your favourite?
None but through no fault of the narrator. He was excellent.Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
See the body of my main review. It focused my thoughts on to the whole issue of decriminalization of drugs. I now believe in a similar policy to that used in Portugal for the UK.Not Quite What It Says On The Tin
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Just brilliant
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A riveting and salutary listen that is enlivened by the narrator.
Fascinating insight into dangerous world
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