There is little point in collecting information from a confidential informant if the police can’t use it. How to use it in a way that is lawful and defendable is problematic for some agencies. The consequences of getting wrong are well documented and have resulted in deaths and lawsuits. This article discusses one such lawsuit and provides details of how to build a system to make sure everything is done lawfully and ethically. The article also addresses what needs to be done to ensure that informant information is used properly in obtaining warrants.
Reducing Confidential informant Related Corruption
This article relates to informant management that resulted in a Chicago police officer being sentence to seven years imprisonment. This story is not about one bad cop, it is about a broken system for managing confidential informants (Confidential Human Sources, HUMINT, Covert Human Intelligence Sources , CHIS)
Confidential Informant Management - The Need for Dedicated Source Units
An extract from our forthcoming publication HUMAN SOURCES: MANAGING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS. It will be out in July and details the structures need to manage human sources safely and more effectively In the meantime here is a section on the need to mage sources using dedicated officers in Dedicated Source Units.