In this week’s blog we return to a subject we have written on before namely that of utilizing the information that a confidential informant provides. There is little point in collecting information from an informant if we 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.

One of the more recent lawsuits was reported in the Lansing State Journal and involves officers form Michigan State Police.  Four officers from that Department and one from Ingham County Sheriff’s Office are being sued following the search of a person’s house. According to the lawsuit, the confidential informant lied to police about the person’s identity and the police were "reckless" in how they dealt with that information. We will leave it to the court to decide as to whether or not the search was lawful or not.

In the meantime everyone involved in the management of confidential informants, (HUMINT, Covert human intelligence sources, CHIS, confidential human sources) needs to take on board some guidance that ensures that any search or arrest based on information received from an informant is lawful and the action is defendable:

1. We collect information from an informant.

2. That information must go through a systematic process where it will be turned into intelligence.

3. The process should be carried out independently of the officer collecting the information or executing any subsequent action. This ensures objectivity. It also significantly reduces the potential for corruption.

4. The subsequent intelligence product should be graded in terms of the credibility of the source and the validity of the information. Credibility speaks about the assessment of the informant’s prior reporting. Validity speaks to the assessment of that specific piece of information. Credibility is normally graded from A to F and validity from 1 to 6.  As a general rule anything that is A1, A2, B1, B2, means that it can safely be acted upon.

5. Action should only be taken on intelligence and not on information.

6. All officers involved need to have received training in relation to the processing and grading of intelligence.

7. It helps if all this is done on a full auditable confidential informant software.

8. It goes a long way to proving the integrity of the officers involved if all original notes are kept in a secure digital note book such as Verinote.

In simple terms: If an officer is told something by an informant and goes to the court to get a warrant, then executes that warrant, the process is deeply flawed. It means that the organisations procedures and structures are a problem. There is potential for real harm.

The book “Human Sources: Managing Confidential Informants”  explores all these issues in great detail including the tables for credibility and validity. It is available from Amazon. It is based on the knowledge of police officers and is there to help other police officers. There is no other book that provides officers involved in this business area with the basic knowledge they need to manage informants properly.

If you think your agency is making these mistakes, they can be fixed. Let us help you. It is what we do. We can provide expert guidance on structures that ensure the process is robust. Better to fix these before the lawsuit.