informants

Informant sues for $ 10 million

Many law enforcement agencies are quite happy to sign up confidential informants with no real consideration given to the risks they are running.

Here is a case from Alabama where a Sheriffs department is being sued for $10 million

Drug informant shot 15 times sues Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out and how much if anything is paid out.

Poor informant management - on so many levels

Here is an article about confidential informant management in Orange County, California. There have been problems here for a number of years and the fallout continues.

There is so much wrong here with regard to the evidence the officer provides I am not quite sure where to start. However, assuming the officer is being honest it indicates a system that was totally dysfunctional.

'Informants used to help free hostages' - The benefits of using human sources

A good news story from Nigeria about the release of hostages. Interestingly in the story is the point they make about using informants to get intelligence about the criminal gangs. Using confidential informants (HUMINT, Human Sources, CHIS) has become very much the poor cousin of intelligence collection. Many have consigned it to the too difficult to do tray in favour of OSINT collection. The reality is that if informants are managed properly the amount and quality of intelligence they produce cannot be surpassed.

Confidential Informant Management - Police Chiefs, don't be afraid to ask for help

Here is a story from the Daily Raleigh News concerns alleged corruption involving a detective from the Raleigh Police Department in North Carolina and a confidential informant. This blog discusses the assistance that can be provided to Police Chiefs to avoid similar issues around corruption and confidential informant management.

Confidential Informant is reliable - Can you prove it?

Confidential informants, human sources, humint, confidential human intelligence sources, CHIS, choose your terminology but the problems in managing people giving information to the police are well known and rarely change. There are ways to manage them these people that protect the person, protect the public, protect the agency, protect the officer, and protect the rule of law. Unfortunately, for some agencies, adopting the necessary measures just seems like something that is too difficult to do .

What makes a confidential informant manager trustworthy - HUMINT Skills

Here are a number of traits that anyone involved in managing confidential informants (Human source, HUMINT, Covert Human Intelligence Source, CHIS) should have. A source should always find that the officer responsible for their safety(the Handler) is trustworthy. If someone is going to be a competent source Handler then these are the elements supervisor’s should look for.

HUMINT Books for Law Enforcement and Military

TWO Books that provide the know how for successfully managing HUMINT operations. A comprehensive guide to the structures needed and the psychology involved. Will be of interest to HUMINT collectors and detectives managing confidential informants. These HUMINT books for military and law enforcement uniquely prepare police agencies and intelligence officers to conduct effective HUMINT operations in any country.

HUMINT and Managing Confidential Informants - knowing the difference.

It is far from unusual to come across law enforcement agencies where the term HUMINT is used, or to come across law enforcement officers who talk about having attended HUMINT training or that they are involved in HUMINT activities. Here,we will discuss to concepts HUMINT and Human Source Management (aka informant management) and identify some of the differences in the two disciplines.

Confidential Informants Review of Houston Police Narcotics Unit

An article on the need for police chiefs to review their existing structures for the management of confidential informants. the article discusses a recent review of Houston Police Departments narcotics unit following a fatal shooting.

Confidential Informants: Record keeping Free list

It seems that no matter how many times things go wrong with confidential informants, many law enforcement agencies fail to change their behaviour. Whether this is caused by a lack of either knowledge or willful blindness is hard to say but in the case, it is the former there are three key elements to manage confidential informants safely

Confidential Informant Corruption. No excuses

Police corruption related to informants. No excuses for not having effective systems in place. Guidance for police chiefs

Why confidential informants are not the same as witnesses

Discussion around the difference between confidential informants and witnesses. There is a lack of knowledge about the difference between confidential informant and a witness. This creates problems like the controversy in regard to so called jailhouse snitches.

Problems with confidential informants

There has been a lot of reporting recently about law enforcement agencies having problems managing confidential informants. Regardless of how you refer to people who confidentially pass information to law enforcement.managing them is often problematic. There are numerous terms that are often used: Covert human intelligence sources (CHIS), the UK legal term, Human sources, used by FBI and widely in Canada and across Australia. and HUMINT often used within military circles. Having a clear definition of what constitutes an informant and what the parameters of their role is are critical elements in managing these individuals effectively. A lot of law enforcement officers believe that anyone can manage informants which is also one of the reasons that an agency gets into trouble around informant management. And unfortunately when something goes wrong the default setting for many is to blame an individual rather than looking at the system that created the circumstances where the bad things happened. The vast majority of things that go wrong with managing informants are down to how the agency manages the informant and the systems that are in place. Most of the time it is an officer being scapegoated. Undoubtedly there are officers who have been involved in wrongdoing but when one drills down into the case it is the informant management system within the agency that has condone the activity or not prevented the wrong doing.

Fortunately, there is a lot an agency can do to mange risks around informant management. At HSM Training and Consultancy we have the knowledge and skills to identify the problems you may have within your agency and advise with regard to steps that need to be taken to protect the agency, the public and the informant. In many cases we can help minimise the impact where something bad has already happened. We are professionals. We know informant management inside out. We literally wrote the book!

So regardless of the size of your agency get in touch and we can have a chat about how we can help you. We work with both big and small agencies. And we want what is right for you. Its not an one size fits all solution. And if you need expert testimony about what is good and bad practice with regard to managing informants we can provide that

Confidential Informant Management Inquiry costs 28 Million dollars - so far.

The cost of not managing informants properly. Law enforcement need to know the risks involved in managing informants.