What Crimes Are Texas Undercover Cops Allowed to Commit?

I've always wondered how far undercover operations go before the secret cop has to rip off his mustache and flash his badge in the perp's face... (okay, maybe I've seen too many movies). But it's true, how far can undercover cops go into an operation in order to make the arrest? How many laws can they break to ensure their cover isn't blown?

How Far is Too Far: Undercover Cops Edition

Well, thanks to The American Law Institute, we know that any time an agency sends an undercover cop, it is only for the most high-value investigations and that safety of the officer and of the public is the number one concern.

Factors that agencies must consider when deploying an undercover agent include the risk of personal injury and property damage, civil liability for the agency, increased risk of invading privacy of citizens, and the risk that the agent may be involved in illegal conduct.

If an officer posing as someone else for investigation purposes must break any laws, their actions are only justified if they are done for the following reasons:

To obtain necessary evidence for the investigation that they wouldn't have access to without breaking the law
To cover their own identity or maintain credibility
To prevent death or serious injury

Undercover cops are also not allowed to engage in "violent acts" unless they were done in self-defense. Basically, you can't just go around shooting people as an undercover cop as they do not have full immunity from the law.

Texas Undercover Cops

It's nearly impossible to know the exact number of undercover police officers in Texas for... obvious reasons. But sometimes they make it easy, like what happened in February 2024 where a cop in La Marque, TX paid a prostitute for some one-on-one time.

What he didn't know was that the so called "prostitute" was actually an undercover cop from Houston PD... oops.