At HSM training and consultancy we are great believers in research relating to the management of confidential informants (CHIS, Confidential human intelligence sources, human source, HUMINT) . The more we look at the topic the better equipped we all should be. A recent paper The moral and emotional world of police informants was recently published by Bethan Loftus, Matthew Bacon, and Layla Skinns.

As they rightly point out academic research in this area is very limited, which unfortunately often drags researchers back to the same old material some of which is outdated. Fortunately here there is also reference to some very recent work by the likes of Nunan et al. The other issue that often arises is comparing UK practice to USA practice. This ends up really as a case of “apples and oranges.”

There are some interesting points raised in the paper, but at the same time there seems a huge disconnect between the academic perspective and the policing perspective, which begs the question as to, ‘who from the practitioner side of things were included in the research?’ A lot of the questions posed could have at least in part been addressed by a number of interviews with people who do the job. It is frustrating to find people interested enough to invest time on this topic but arguably in some ways at sea in regard to the topic.

Have a read and make up your own mind. IF you are engaged in academic it may point you in the direction of some other reading material.

That said if you are engaged in academic research on this topic., we are all to ready to have a chat. It is going to cost you nothing except maybe a coffee! We have been researching the topic on an international basis for over 20 years and doing it for over 30 so maybe we know somethings that may help you. And in doing so help the wider policing community.