There have been serious allegations of corruption in Detroit Police Department involving a narcotics unit and the mismanagement of confidential informant finances. The contents of this article indicate a broken system for informant management and not just a few bad cops. There are always risks when it comes to managing confidential informants (HUMINT, Human Sources, Covert Human Intelligence Sources) but there are ways to manage these risks. We provide the three key elements here:
Comprehensive procedures. the agency needs to have comprehensive procedures that detail what an officer must do in all aspects of managing a confidential informant. As a guide such procedures will be over 100 pages in length. We know from experience that this is the minimum content that is needed to cover off on all aspects of informant management. Anything less and important aspects are omitted.
Training. Confidential informants should only be managed by officers that are selected and trained for the role and who are operating in units whose sole function is the management of informants. Dedicate handling units significantly reduce the risk to the agency, the public, the informant and the officer. If you disagree with this we would love to see the evidence.
Records. Every aspect of the management of an informant should be recorded in a purpose built IT system designed for the management of informants. It is the 21st century, information technology makes data readily available to those who need it. Good records mean that it is much more difficult for an officer to behave in a corrupt way and detection of such conduct can be readily detected. There are off the shelf solutions available such as the Pegasus System from Altia-ABM investment in an off shelf product will save you a lot of heartache and money in the future.
We have detailed these three steps in our book Human Sources: Managing Confidential Informants For $10 you can see how the pain the Detroit Police and Chief Craig are going through can, and should be, avoided.
We are here to help. Informant related corruption can be prevented. Drop us a note info@hsmtraining.com
Better to know your system is safe rather than waiting for the harm to appear in public.
And if your agency is going through such turmoil we can help you fix it.
