Some people don’t learn . You just can’t make up informants. Here is a story from Smithfield Rhode Island about a 600k lawsuit based on information from an informant .
In essence the officer obtained a warrant based on an informant who no one met.
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.
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.
A report on a case we are following closely from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about the trial of a former police officer and his relationship with a number of confidential informants. Allegations of consensual sexual relationships, rape and the supply of heroin to an informant are all in there. While the accused guilt of innocence is, for our purposes, academic, the allegations point to a systemic failure to manage informants safely.
This article discusses a lawsuit against a USA law enforcement agency concerning the alleged wrongful death of a police confidential informant. The family of Troy Howlett are suing the police department and others for $13 million. We discuss what constitutes negligence in the management of informants.