Here is an interesting article about crime problems being faced in Des Moines , Kent County, Washington State. What I found interesting in the statement of Police Chief Ken Thomas was his comment around the intention to request that federal agencies “conduct an operation in our emphasis area where federal confidential informants are brought in to infiltrate gang, gun and drug operations.”

This is interesting from two perspectives.

First, in these days it is good to hear a police chief vocalize the importance of using confidential informants in combatting serious and organised crime. All too often police now place an over-reliance on open source investigation and neglect the benefits confidential informants can bring. Confidential informant use has fallen out of fashion in many circles.

Second, and understandable but disappointing, is the expectation that a local police department requires the use of Federal confidential informants. If a police department or a county task force has invested in proper training for their officers and has set up the structures needed, they can easily move to a position where they can recruit and manage high level informants effectively.

While Federal agencies undoubtedly have greater resources, it is questionable as to whether or not they have invested those resources in better structures to manage informants and better training for the officers involved in managing informants.

HSM Training provide a one week proactive source recruitment course that teaches officers the fundamentals of the proactive recruitment. It is designed to teach officers how to recruit informants to address specific problems. The course will equip Law enforcement agencies to adopt a more proactive strategy in preventing and addressing crime. It is exactly what Chief Thomas is looking for and readily within his reach to have. And it is what some of the Federal agencies are already getting.

If you are interested, drop us an email info@hsmtraining.com or call us on +44 7739 370 969