Goal #3 Objective C


Objective C:
Without the use of course text or class notes, the student will identify issues on collecting information from informants.
Reasons people give information to investigators

These are also called informant "motivations."

In order for an investigator to properly understand someone who gives information, it is important for the investigator to try to establish "why" the informant is providing the information. This is motivation.

Four ways investigators develop informants

Unsolicited Informants -
Persons who contact the investigator to voluntarily give information. Normally these informants are concerned with a single issue. They are frequently witnesses, victims, close friends, concerned citizens, or people with whom the investigator has had frequent professional contact.

Socially Solicited Informants -
Persons with whom the investigator develops a social relationship. The investigator makes him or her self approachable and the informant feels comfortable sharing information. These informants can be cultivated from common hobbies, neighborhoods, schools, or presentations.

Situationally Solicited Informants -
Persons who are in trouble (financial, legal, etc.) and see the investigator as a source of relief. When dealing with this type of informant, the investigator should avoid making promises that cannot be kept. However, in exchange for information the investigator can offer to speak with the appropriate prosecutor or other source of trouble.

Circumstantially Solicited Informants -
Persons who are recruited (based on motivation) for a specific criminal investigation.

Regardless of informant motivation or development, each informant should be tested for reliability periodically to insure they are still considered reliable. This means they must be levied to collect some information from a verifiable source or perform an independently verifiable task.

This can be done in the case of narcotics or stolen property by giving the informant some "buy money" and targeting him against an undercover officer, with the officer's knowledge. The informant must purchase something of value, give the undercover officer the money and bring the item purchased back to the investigator.

The undercover officer can tell you how the informant performed, what was said, how much money he was given and what the undercover officer gave to the informant. With this the informant should conduct themselves as instructed, be able to account for all of the money and all of the items purchased.

When this happens, this is the first step to the informant establishing reliability. The informant should be tested periodically, without their knowledge. The informant should never be told after a test that they have been tested.

Tests like these may be used in court later to establish informant "reliability" in the event your informant provides information you use in a "Statement of Probable Cause" for a warrant.

All of this information should be logged in the informant's handling file.

The investigator should maintain a file on every informant developed.

Contents of an Informant Handling File



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