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.

'Informants used to help free hostages' - The benefits of using human sources

A good news story from Nigeria about the release of hostages. Interestingly in the story is the point they make about using informants to get intelligence about the criminal gangs. Using confidential informants (HUMINT, Human Sources, CHIS) has become very much the poor cousin of intelligence collection. Many have consigned it to the too difficult to do tray in favour of OSINT collection. The reality is that if informants are managed properly the amount and quality of intelligence they produce cannot be surpassed.

Bad Information from a confidential Informant costs $2.9 million.

Many of our readers in the USA will be familiar with the case in Chicago of Anjanette Young, where police executed a warrant on her apartment to search for a gun. Without going into all the details of what was done wrong, it has now cost the City of Chicago $2.9 million in compensation for Ms Young. This was an expensive day out for the Chicago Police Department. We can stop the same thing happening to your agency,

Confidential Informant Management - Drug Enforcement Administration

Sometimes we read a story about poor informant management and we shake our head in disbelief. Here is a story about a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer gone bad.

Confidential informants and police corruption

Here is a story from New Albany, Indiana about a police officer that went well and truly down the wrong road with a confidential informant, (human source, CHIS). This type of think could have happened in many police departments. The case is far from unique. No doubt everyone is seeking to cast all the blame on the officer. Time would be better spent looking at how this behaviour occurred and how it continued for two years.

Proactive Recruitment of Confidential Informants

An article discussing the proactive recruitment of confidential informants (Human sources, HUMINT) by low and county police departments in the USA.

Confidential Informant Case Law USA

At HSM Consultancy and Training we are always looking for material that helps our customers and the wider law enforcement community have a better understanding of every aspect of managing confidential informants. This article links to a discussion of the Luttenberger Standard and its application to disclosure and confidential informants.

Police Corruption and Informants - Simply no valid excuse.

There is simply no valid excuse in 2021, for officers mishandling confidential informants (HUMINT, confidential human sources, Covert human intelligence sources, CHIS). While there is always a risk that one officer becomes involved in corrupt behavior systems should be in place where such behavior is very difficult to carry out and if it is done it can be readily detected and easily proven.

Records management - Backing up police records.

Here is a story from Minneapolis about the destruction of police records some of them pertaining to confidential informants. In one case the records were destroyed by police and in the other as a result of public disorder.

Undercover operations - Records and accountability and potential corruption

“Cops bought booze, lap dances during undercover strip club probe…” makes for an interesting headline in the New York Post but the whole story raises a lot of questions for the police department involved. More importantly it creates a learning opportunity for other law enforcement agencies when it comes to accountability and record keeping in undercover operations.

No Knock Warrants and questionable confidential informants

No knock warrants are a tactic available to police that has be subject to much scrutiny. Here is a story from St Louis which resulted in the death of a 63 year old man. No knock warrants are intended to be used where there is a greater risk to the officers executing the warrant. This article focuses on the involvement of confidential informants in obtaining the warrant.

Informants, alleged corruption and systemic failures.

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.

Confidential Informant corruption - A gift that keeps on giving

So here we have a few recent news articles relating to police corruption and the management of confidential informants (HUMINT, confidential human sources, covert human intelligence sources, CHIS) Please tell me that you realise this is a problem for law enforcement and not just a problem with “one bad officer”. Corruption relating to managing confidential informants is a big problem and it is not going away.

Verinote - An App to help in managing confidential informants

This article discusses the use of the VeriNote app and its utility in confidential informant management. There are a lot of features about this product that make it ideal for officers involved in managing confidential sources (HUMINT, covert human intelligence sources, CHIS, and confidential human sources). Here we list some of the features that will make it very appealing to anyone involved in this type of work.