I traveled a lot in the past few years. I went to Africa, Eastern Europe and many countries that may be considered as police states. In these countries, the police can do anything they want. When I saw a police officer, I didn't really care much, but I noticed that local people were rather nervous.
Politics is not easy. Infiltrating an organization is like having a part in a play. I can hardly see how you can train an officer, when he is on a police mission, to write a report or to reflect on whether or not he should act in a certain way. He must play his part in order to be accepted and trusted so that he can gather evidence. How is it possible to determine where this officer must stop? This is the question that's being asked today.
You talked about investigations and another possible role for the police, but things are getting more and more complicated. We shouldn't let police officers become criminals with a license. An officer never gets arrested because he always has his police badge.
Wouldn't it be better if the mandate given to an officer to infiltrate a criminal organization is strictly limited to two years? We shouldn't let him get used to these activities so they become a second nature. Without a time limit, the officer himself may become as dangerous as a criminal. If he can have this kind of activity during his whole career, he will probably take an approach typical of police states. I believe we can draw a line by giving police officers some leeway but only for limited period of time.