I met my first Red Squad cop,  30 years ago,  in Houston's only radical
book store at the time.      A big, beefy,  white male entered into the
store, and began to feign interest in the ideas of Socialism.       He
was clearly at unease with his role, and didn't quite know what to say,
or how he could pull off his pretense.

Here was the dilemma,  faced by novice, under-cover police spies back
then;  it was hard to learn what to say,  before you gave yourself away,
and became known to the radicals you were trying to infiltrate.

Oh,  sure,  police agents could learn in one city, blow their cover, and
then go to another locale,  to better ply their trade.     But that
involved crossing different policing jurisdictions, and inter-police
politics,  sometimes made that difficult.

So how did the political police train good agents?    They didn't,  most
of the time.    A lot of them stood out like a sore thumb.

Thanks to the internet, getting acquainted with radicals,  and their
ways,  is much easier now.      Police trainees can enter into radical
CHAT LISTS,  and engage in intimate conversations with Leftists, while
remaining sight unseen.      Men can be women, and announced locales of
where the cop is emailing from, can be falsified also,  if necessary.
Along with other data.

A lot can be determined about individual personalities and group
dynamics, with minimal risk of being uncovered,  run by the trainee.
It's now a lot easier to stir up animosities,  get information about the
sympathizers of a group,  and get that basic training in, still sight
unseen, before then going out into the field.

Still, with these new advantages in training the undercover political
policeperson, the basic problem still remains.      How to cover up that
crude, sincere- insincerity,  of the inside police agent?

But then again, that's the problem from the political police angle.
The problem from our angle,  is how to handle the presence of police
undercover people on-line?

Just as before, it is difficult to just come out and say......So and So
is a Cop.     Some real comrades will believe this, and act accordingly.
While others will be in varying degrees of disagreement, or doubt.
Discussing the issue,  can tear a group of comrades apart.

Probably the best route, is to not point fingers,  at those whom appear
to be obviously acting in a sincerely,  insincere manner.      But it
hurts nobody at all, to just remind comrades, that there are wolves
amongst us.