Informant Flashcards
What is an Anonymous Informant?
Person that refuses to identify themselves.
What is a non-confidential Informant?
Person who does NOT request that their identity
be held in strict confidence
What is a Confidential informant?
Person who request that their identity be held in strict
confidence
What is a Unwitting informant?
Person who does not know that he is providing
information to LEO. (Normally a undercover agent)
What can you promise an Informant?
Nothing, just that u will tell the AUSA they helped.
What are the types of Informants?
Criminal
Professional
Informants within a regulated industry
Private citzen
What is a criminal or criminal associate informant?
Most valuable. Informant is a violator or associate of criminals, usually in an ideal position to have substantive information about violations of law.
What is a professional informant?
Typically on LE payroll
What is an informant within regulated industry?
Access to information that could be the prediction for a criminal investigation.
When developing an informant you should consider…
Mental, emotional, and physical status
Criminal & employment history
Educational history
Political ideology
Informants are used specially for
Making observations or perform surveillance in areas where strangers would be suspect
Furnish info from a source not readily available to the investigator
Conduct controlled undercover negotiations with or introduce undercover agents to suspects
Help establish probable cause for a search warrant
Testify at legal proceedings
Gather intelligence
How can you control an informant?
Maintain frequent personal contact
Discuss entrapment with informant
Be on constant guard not to adopt an informants moral low and ethical standards
Good Rapport and mutual trust
Avoid promising inflated $ or making other promises that can’t be kept.
What are some potential problems when using an informant?
Criminal might be difficult to control and might embarrass the government
Criminal might have questionable credibility in court
Investigators can lose control of informants, investigations, and their personal values and integrity because if misplaced loyalties to informants
Should all contacts/meetings with informants be documented?
Hell yeah Felicia!
What should your informants file have?
Informants ID # (will be used in documents instead if actual name) Their identity Fingerprints Photos Copies of ID's All financial benefits (payments) Document All Info (good and bad) Each meeting (date,time,place,witness present, and synopsis)
