When some decides to become a confidential informant (Human Source, Confidential Intelligence Source, CHIS) there is an obligation on the la enforcement agency to take all reasonable measures to make sure that that person does not come to harm. This obligation is often covered under Workplace safety legislation and/or human rights legislation. Once a persons identity has been exposed, there is little other option than to place that person into some form of witness protection scheme regardless of how unsuitable they may be for that. The alternative’s a bus ticket out of town or a keeping our fingers crossed are far from satisfactory , ethically bankrupt and will probably amount to negligence should the person choose to take a lawsuit.
If we look at a recent case from Iowa, we can see that even the judiciary do not seem to grasp the seriousness of compromising the identity of a confidential informant. While there may well be extenuating circumstances and or other benefits to be had from a plea bargain six months imprisonment for disclosing the identities of informants seems overly lenient. After all, those exposed may be killed and almost certainly will have had their lives turned upside down.
Moving on from the sentencing, it is worth raising the question as to whether or not this person NEEDED to have access to the true identities of the confidential informants. All to often law enforcement agencies do not show sufficient concern regarding an informant’s identity. All too often the assumption is made that just because someone works in law enforcement/ criminal justice, then they should be able to see an informant’s true identity. This is incorrect.
The true identity of a confidential informant should be strictly limited to an identified number of people. Identities should be stored in a system with the highest level of security and with Role Based Access Control. There should be an audit trail detail who has seen the true identity and when they saw it. This level of security requires purpose software and training for officers involved.
If your agency is interested in finding out more about what is needed to keep the identities of informants safe, please get in touch. We are here to help. Better closing the stable door before the horse bolts.
If you are interested in the available software products to manage confidential informants securely we can tell you what to look for and who the main suppliers are.
