Due to the nature of undercover work, officers must become involved with people they would much rather arrest than befriend. In the vast percentage of cases, the officer must work unarmed to avoid detection as a conservation officer. Many times, only quick thinking stands between success and disaster. The role SIU officers must play when in the company of suspects also requires a significant lifestyle change. Not only is the officer required to alter his or her appearance, but must also modify dress, speech and mannerisms.
Some assignments even require an officer to live away from home and travel from state to state.
The single largest case Cussen was involved with targeted 26 restaurants and fish markets. In this case, Cussen and other SIU officers created a business selling legal fish to a list of suspected establishments supplied by an informant. Before long, the suspects were inquiring to purchase illegal species such as striped bass, deer and bears. The investigation verified the managers' intent to obtain illegal finfish and market them as hybrids after filleting them to alter their appearance. During Cussen's three-year assignment with the Special Investigations Unit, more than 53 individuals were charged with 355 violations.