John Buckley
Confidential Informant Training - From us, ...

I was asked yesterday has to what makes confidential informant (Human Source) training provided by HSM Training different from other providers. I wasn’t quite sure where to start. Then it dawned on me that it doesn’t actually start with us, it starts with the customer and what they need. And what they need is not always what they want.

confidentialinformants

Confidential informants - what 1.8 million dollars buys!

You could pay a lawsuit like this one £1.8 million because your systems didn’t prevent wrongdoing by your officers. That is a lot of money for any agency to throw away. Read about alternatives.

Confidential informant corruption

Here is one of those stories where you just thing WTF! Our regular readers will be familiar in regard to our advocacy around the need for police chiefs to build suitable structures to minimise the risk of corruption when managing confidential informants while maximising the benefits from them. This of course assumes that the Chief is not involved in the corruption. A recent story relating to Payne Springs Police Department raises concerns. The allegation is that the Chief and one of her officers were using a confidential informant to buy and sell drugs for their personal benefit.

Human Sources (CHIS) domestic violence and managing risk

An interesting article from the BBC relating to the management of a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) (confidential informant) and the source’s alleged involvement in domestic violence. This case involves the security service (MI5) and a person they managed as an informant.

Careless or negligence - managing confidential informants

An article relating to the compromise of a person whom the police wanted to use as a confidential informant and a discussion around how such problems can be avoided. It relates to a woman suing a police agency because of her details being compromised on an answering machine.

Informants and Wildlife Protection

A story about the effective use of confidential informants to combat wildlife crime in Zimbabwe. Trafficking in wildlife is a multi million dollar organised crime business. Using informants to combat this threat is an essential part of adopting an intelligence let approach to conservation.

Australian Royal Commission on the management of police informants

Australian Royal Commission on the management of police informants

The report of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants in Victoria, Australia has been released. This article gives some of the background to the case and addresses some of the main recommendations of the report. The report establishes best practice for all law enforcement agencies in Australia and contains a lot of learning for those outside Australia that are involved in managing informants.

Confidential Informants: Record keeping Free list

It seems that no matter how many times things go wrong with confidential informants, many law enforcement agencies fail to change their behaviour. Whether this is caused by a lack of either knowledge or willful blindness is hard to say but in the case, it is the former there are three key elements to manage confidential informants safely