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# Neil Woods
- URL: https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/guests/neil-woods/
- Published: 2026-11-12T23:42:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-12T23:42:01.000Z
- Description: Former undercover drugs detective, chair of LEAP UK and author of Good Cop, Bad War.
- Author: Aleksandra King
- Tags: guest, Neil Woods

**Former undercover drugs detective, chair of LEAP UK and author**

Neil Woods joined the police at 19 and at 23 was handed a £20 note, an address and no cover story at all. From 1993 to 2007, roughly 13 years, he worked undercover on drug operations for Derbyshire Constabulary and as an asset of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, buying heroin and crack cocaine in cities including Nottingham and Leicester to build cases against the people running the trade.

He retired at the rank of Detective Sergeant carrying complex PTSD and what he calls moral injury, having concluded that the work increased the harm it was meant to reduce. He is now chair of LEAP UK and a board member of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in the United States, and the author, with J.S. Rafaeli, of Good Cop, Bad War and Drug Wars. He speaks to police forces and public audiences internationally on why prohibition fails.

## Credentials

- Undercover drugs operative, 1993 to 2007; retired at the rank of Detective Sergeant
- Chair of LEAP UK, and board member of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in the US
- Author of Good Cop, Bad War (Ebury, 2016) with J.S. Rafaeli
- Author of Drug Wars (Ebury, 2018) with J.S. Rafaeli
- Television contributor including Channel 4's Drugs Live and BBC Three's Drugs Map of Britain

## Find Neil

- [neilwoods.net](http://www.neilwoods.net/)

## Their episode

*I Weaponised Empathy So Criminals Would Trust Me | Neil Woods*, on The BEYOND Podcast with Aleksandra King.

[Listen to the episode](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/i-weaponised-empathy-so-criminals-would-trust-me-neil-woods/)