ABSTRACT
In 1992 an American city of about 200,000 was beset by a serious social problem: members of “the Oriental community” (in the language of the local resident telling this story), which constituted 2 percent of the city’s population, were killing their infant daughters. Also, they were involved in other, seemingly drug-trade-related offenses. The city’s police department wanted to place an officer undercover in the community. The department understood that its non-Asian-heritage officers would have difficulty and ultimately be unsuccessful in gaining entree. They also perceived that any Asian-American officer from the department or, for that matter, from any other department within the state would be known to members of the community, given its relatively small size statewide. The department applied for a federal grant to hire an out-of-state Asian-American police officer to go undercover and help solve the crimes. 1
