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.

Confidential Informant Training - From us, what you need is what you get.

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.

Informant sues for $ 10 million

Many law enforcement agencies are quite happy to sign up confidential informants with no real consideration given to the risks they are running.

Here is a case from Alabama where a Sheriffs department is being sued for $10 million

Drug informant shot 15 times sues Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out and how much if anything is paid out.

Human source/ agent Confidential Informant Case law Canada

For all are Canadian readers here is an interesting review of a Canadian case relating to informants.

It is well worth taking the time to go through it as there are a lot of references to relevant case law.

Courtesy of LAW TIMES

At HSM Training we care about sharing knowledge

Informants making things up and police going along -Raleigh, North Carolina

Here is an update to story we have already discussed with informant management in Raleigh, NC, and the consequences for all involved. I thought it would be interesting to compare the consequences for some that were involved.

Making up informants

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.

Informant problems New Bedford, MA

We have talked a lot about this before but the problems continue. It was recently suggested to me by a student that this doesn’t happen anymore. Unfortunately it does because police departments and sheriffs officers continue to believe any officer should be allowed to manage informants and to compound the problem they fail to put in adequate structures to manage the risks.

Poor informant management - on so many levels

Here is an article about confidential informant management in Orange County, California. There have been problems here for a number of years and the fallout continues.

There is so much wrong here with regard to the evidence the officer provides I am not quite sure where to start. However, assuming the officer is being honest it indicates a system that was totally dysfunctional.

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.

Police corruption and informants - too close for comfort

Here is a story form Arkansas about a sheriff who may have gotten too close to his informant. Managing confidential informants is a high risk business. Many officers have no idea how easily they can find themselves being corrupted. There is often an unhealthy combination of ignorance and hubris. Add this to lack of structures within an agency and poor supervision and it is a recipe for disaster.

Only members who have completed Department approved training may utilize confidential informants or maintain informant files

I was doing some doing some research on the web when I came across this quote “Only members who have completed Department approved training may utilize confidential informants or maintain informant files”. It is taken from Vancouver Police Department’s Informant Management Policy For those of you unaware Vancouver is a big city in Canada - think mountains and sea, with approximately 2000 sworn and unsworn members.

Case Law - Confidential Informant used, New Mexico USA

We are always on the lookout for material that may be of use to officers. This is a very clear explanation of case law that affects the use confidential informants in New Mexico specifically and USA generally. It goes to two issues whether or not a person was “seized” and “reasonable suspicion” based on the word of an informant.

Erik Scramlin (lawyer) explains both issues well. Thanks to him for sharing his insight.

It is always worth examining the nuances involved around using information obtained from informants.

New Australian legislation for managing human sources (confidential informants)

After spending over AUD100 million on a Royal Commission and years of adverse publicity, the State of Victoria has new legislation for managing human sources.

It is certainly going to change how things are done.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the matter which began with police using a defence lawyer as an informant to report on her clients.

Safe to say it went badly wrong.

If you want to read the whole sad story visit: https://www.rcmpi.vic.gov.au/

The consequences of poor confidential informant management

Here is a story originating in San Francisco about cases being lost as a result of poor informant management

We have discussed similar cases over the years but these types of incident continue. This is not about individual officers. This is about agencies not having sufficient structures in place to minimise the risk of these things happening. Such systems take a bit of time and investment to set up and maintain but no where near the time and effort needed to clear the potential harm done by incidents such as this.

We could go on but where would be the point. If you want help ask us. If you don’t then accept the risk that something similar is occurring in your agency.