When it comes to confidential informant training in the USA a topic that often comes to the fore is what guidelines should agencies work to and what standards should they be trained to.

These problems are understandable given that there are about 18000 law enforcement agencies spread across fifty different states. Agencies need to be very careful that they are meeting expected standards of behaviour or they leave themselves open to lawsuits or the loss of cases. Often policies and procedures are unique to a specific agency and lack depth and or clarity.

This raises potential issues when it comes to training delivery. Your training provider should have a strong understanding of what good practice is and how what they are teaching fits with what is recognised as national good practice.

When it comes to the USA a solid starting point can be found in two documents:

There are a number of points to consider in regard to these documents

They are very similar however the FBI document uses the term ‘confidential human source’ as opposed to ‘confidential informant.’ The role remains very similar.
They are written to fit with Federal law enforcement operating and legal environment
They are not reviewed on an annual basis and/or up to date guidance is not readily available. The links provide the most up to date we can find.
There are vulnerabilities if what is in the documents is followed. (They seem to have been written by someone that lacks real expertise, someone who can apply what happens in the field and manage how it fits with the law.)

Having said that they remain the best starting position. When it comes to training the provider needs to have a copy of these guidelines and the agency’s own policy and procedures in the room together with a good understanding with the relevant case law.

If the officers have had no basic training on policy and procedure this is where training needs to start. If you want to play football properly you need to know the rules. The agency also needs to have the proper records system for manging informants with all the relevant forms and structures in place such as those to manage risk, deal with disclosure and make payments to the informants.

At HSM Training when delivering classes in the US our first port of call will always be what is contained in the legislation and in these guidance documents. Building on these we will train students how to ensure their agency, the public and the source are all protected. Once the foundation is in place we can move on to the practical aspects of proactively recruiting and managing confidential informants.

Having recognised that agencies can have limited time we will often provide students with our books on managing human sources and managing risk in undercover operations which they can study in their own time. This means that more of the class time can be devoted to hands on scenarios and the implementation of more advanced psychology based techniques.

If you have any doubts about our ability to deliver in compliance with US law and guidance call us and test the water. PHONE + 44 7739 370 969

If you want help adapting the guidance documents to your agency give us a call.

USA Guidelines on Confidential informant management - ensuring compliance in training

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