Never Get Busted (2025)
Presented at Doc Edge 2025
Barry Cooper is an expert at hiding drugs, evading police, and raising hell. But once upon a time he was a highly decorated Texas Narcotics Officer. After a raid goes wrong, destroying a family not unlike his own, Barry’s conscious gets the better of him and he quits the force. Using stolen police tapes, he creates a DVD series teaching drug users how to hide their stash and becomes an instant media sensation.
Never Get Busted! is one of the most compelling and urgent documentaries to appear in recent years. At its centre is Barry Cooper, a former Texan narcotics officer turned activist. His transformation from celebrated drug buster to outspoken critic of the War on Drugs creates a story so surreal that it feels stranger than fiction.
This is a film about seeing both sides of a broken system. It reflects law enforcement through the lived experience of a man who once embodied its values and now stands firmly against them. Cooper’s journey is extraordinary and deeply relevant in a world where state overreach and unchecked authority are becoming increasingly common.
Directed by David Anthony Ngo, Never Get Busted! avoids a conventional structure. Instead of a simple biography, the film embraces the chaos and contradiction of Cooper’s life. It uses a mix of interviews, grainy police tapes, courtroom footage, and surreal animations to show his shifting mindset and the dangerous territory he enters.
Cooper was once praised as one of the most effective narcotics officers in Texas. His dedication was so intense that he even trained his own drug-sniffing dog. Over time, he witnessed homes torn apart, children removed, and families destroyed. Many of these cases involved small amounts of cannabis. Eventually, he began to question not only the ethics of his work but the entire system that allowed such harm to be called justice.
His shift was loud and public. Cooper did not quietly leave policing. He reversed his role completely and produced a controversial video series with the same name as this documentary. In it, he offered advice on how to avoid police detection. He also began exposing what he believed to be widespread corruption among his former colleagues. It was a bold and risky move that many viewed as reckless.
His change of allegiance drew suspicion. People in the cannabis community wondered if he was genuine or if this was a trap. His former colleagues saw him as a traitor. The documentary leans into this tension and explores the uncomfortable space Cooper now occupies. He is too radical for law enforcement and too connected to his past for activist circles.
This ambiguity is what makes the film powerful. Cooper is not presented as a hero or a villain. He is a man confronting the consequences of his past while fighting for a better future. He is not simply helping people avoid arrest. He is challenging institutional power while risking his freedom and reputation.
The film resonates strongly with the world we live in today. Although the story takes place in the United States, the issues it highlights are increasingly familiar in Aotearoa. Police overreach, systemic injustice, and the erosion of civil liberties are not distant problems.
We are seeing deportations rise, surveillance expand, and state powers grow under the banner of public safety. Peaceful protests have been met with disproportionate force. Marginalised communities continue to face targeted pressure with limited avenues for protection. The turmoil captured in the film is not confined to the American South. It is appearing in institutions closer to home.
This is where Never Get Busted! becomes more than an engaging documentary. It becomes a warning and a call to pay attention. It asks what justice truly is and who it serves. It encourages us to think critically about power and the consequences of challenging it.
At the same time, the film offers hope. Cooper’s determination and his willingness to stand alone show that change is possible. He is not a perfect figure, and the documentary is honest about that. Yet his commitment to fighting injustice, even at great personal cost, is worth recognising.
The film also carries a broader message. The antidote to discrimination, whether racism, fascism, sexism, or classism, is not passive neutrality. It is active resistance. It is speaking up and taking risks. Cooper embodies this approach and reminds us that we do not need to wait for institutions to act. We can begin the work ourselves.
With its raw energy, charismatic central figure, and urgent message, Never Get Busted! becomes more than a documentary. It becomes a movement. It challenges, provokes, and inspires. In times like these, that is exactly what we need.
Directed by David Anthony Ngo, Stephen McCallum | 105 mins | Australia, Philippines, United States | English | International Premiere – In Truth We Trust Category
Screening at the Doc Edge documentary festival, in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and online from 25 June.
Review written by Alex Moulton
