Here is another story about the consequences of bad informant management in New Bedford, Mass. A lot has been said about problems within this agency none of which can be pleasant for any officer of that agency unconnected with the allegations. These have been covered in depth in the podcast Snitch City presented by the Boston Globe.
Rather than going over the story I will leave it for the reader to have a listen. Two things I will say are this
The issues were avoidable.
The circumstances that created these can be fixed though when you are as far down the track as New Bedford appear to be then it is likely to cost more both in financial costs and reputational damage.
I spend a lot of time analysing these cases in order to identify where things have gone wrong and how an agency can avoid them before the bad stuff happens.
Unfortunately many agencies still regard informant management as something any cop can do and every cop should do. Then they fail to put in all but the most limited measures to manage the risks. I have been fortunate to work with some of the best informant handlers across the world but it is fair to say that all of them work safer and better where the agency has put in place effective structures. They have selected these officers for the role and then invested a lot of time in training them. They have systems in place to identify and manage risks and to keep everyone involved SAFE.
If you have any doubts about how your agency manages confidential informants (human sources) drop me an email at info@hsmtraining.com or call me on +447739370969. ( Its a UK number but we work in many countries.) A call is not going to cost you anything and you will NOT get some hard sales pitch. We can help you with your structures and we can give you the best training you can get.