PASADENA, California — It was a bad day when undercover officer Joe Halpin discovered he was being followed by the Los Angeles Police Department. A veteran of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for 18 years, Halpin knew a tail when he saw one.
“I was driving and I noticed someone off to my right, and the way he sat in his car,” says Halpin.
“I thought: ‘That guy must be an off-duty cop.’ I kept driving, made a right, and the guy went with me. I thought: ‘That’s strange,’ made another right, and then he and other cars went with me too.
“So I thought: ‘Now we’re going into a circle, so I’m being followed.’ I pulled into an ATM and I pretended I was walking up to the ATM and watched them park. And they backed into spaces, which is another tell because cops always want to get out fast. So I started walking toward one of them, and as soon as I did, he took off.
“I got his plate, and I was in an undercover car, a truck. I ran the plate, and it came back ‘no record on file,’ which tells me they’re cops.”
Halpin called his lieutenant at headquarters. “I said: ‘Murray, I’m being followed.’ He goes: ‘You’re being paranoid.’ A half-hour later he called and said: ‘OK, somebody is following.’ I found out later that my department was following me, but they got worried that there would be ramifications from that, so they farmed it out to LAPD, and I burned them on the first day.”
It turned out Halpin was suspected of falsifying search warrants and consent forms, but nothing came of it. Nothing, that is, but a new career.
At this point, Halpin was scraping bottom. He was suffering the breakup of his marriage and being investigated by his own. “That was really the turning point for me. I said: ‘I’m no longer effective as a cop. Obviously they’ve lost confidence in me because they feel like I’m doing things illegal. I’ve lost confidence in myself because I don’t think I’m the same guy that first pinned on the badge.’ I thought: ‘I’m not doing anybody any good and I could end up like a lot of cops — being either a drunk or a madman at the end of the career.’ ”
A short time later, Halpin sold his first spec script. He has been working in Hollywood ever since on shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Secrets and Lies and The Lottery.
His latest series, The Oath, premièring on Crackle on Thursday, reveals a little-known fact about law enforcement that won’t go down easy. It seems some cops form real gangs — sort of fraternal organizations that unite the officers in an omerta that occasionally blurs the line between the letter of the law and expediency.
“The gang starts out with people with their backs against the wall and protecting each other,” says Halpin. “You’re in this weird world when you’re a street cop. You don’t have support of the administrators because those are political people who are not going to do anything to defend you.
“And then the public at large — every encounter you have is a negative one because cops aren’t called to any good situations, and you have to immediately take control of the situation. So you’re being bombarded by the negativity and dealing with the public that you end up banding together to protect each other.”
The gangs pledge allegiance to each other and carry names such as the Vikings or the Cavemen. Halpin’s gang was the Reapers. Each gang member sports a defining tattoo. Pulling up his pants cuff, Halpin reveals his inscribed on his ankle. Each symbol within the tattoo identifies the gang.
