Informants are cost-effective because they involve little expense. In some jurisdictions, if the defendant can demonstrate that it is relevant to the case, the informant's identity may be revealed (Brown, 1985 Feuer, 2001 Schreiber, 2001). Many courts have held that the identity of an informant can be kept confidential, but this not universal. Whatever the case, informants often desire to remain anonymous. In some cases, however, honest citizens simply wish to report wrongdoings. Most informants are criminals who cooperate with the police in exchange for a reduced charge, sentence, or immunity from prosecution, depending on the judicial system. Informants are also referred to as 'justice collaborators' or they may be known as 'cooperating witnesses' (UNODC, 2008). There are four types of informant: a member of the public, a victim of a crime, a member of an organized criminal group or police officers themselves. Otherwise the criminal case against the defendant might be dismissed to protect the informant.Informants are used often in organized crime cases. Sometimes a CI's identity is compromised when a CI breaks those established rules of conduct. A CI will know at the onset of the investigation if his/her identity will remain confidential. If an agreement is made to keep the CIs identity a secret then the government must abide by that written agreement. Many cases would go unsolved without employing a CI. The only wound I suffered was a dog bite when the police K-9 bit me by mistake.ĬI's know they are a valuable tool for law enforcement. One of them called for help when I was being held at gun and knife point by two dealers. In one case it saved my life because I treated them fairly. Some CIs will attempt to recruit other CIs for the police. They must understand that they are not a police officer, must not carry a weapon, and must not use their sexuality or entrap someone into committing a crime. Cops can't hang around with felons when off-duty.ĬIs don't like playing by established rules that are clearly explained and written out on their contracts with police. Some CIs think the police are really their friends. Once a CI has your phone number you can be sure that you will get calls late at night, on weekends and on holidays. Then the CI is no longer a mercenary and becomes dependent on the cops to help him or her out on fresh charges.

It isn't hard for a good cop to find a reason to arrest a CI. What CIs eventually discover is that law enforcement agencies share information and we usually discover that a CI is 'shopping.' In those cases we either drop the payment or deactivate the CI and possibly make him the target of a new investigation. They will call around to various law enforcement agencies and give them a little info to see how much they will pay. If we didn't respond to his calls quickly enough he would begin 'agency shopping.' I have had a few CIs attempt to do this. After a while his attitude was such that he acted as though we worked for him. We nicknamed one CI that I worked with for over 15 years 'Teflon.' Criminal charges never seemed to stick and crooks never figured out that he was the informant on many cases. Mercenary informants can become very bold. Mainly, CIs have infiltrated an organization or a person involved in illegal activities. Some CIs are very cocky because they are able to do something that the police can't do. CIs are sometimes very scared about what will happen when someone finds out that they snitched on them. Having worked with hundreds of them I have a pretty clear understanding of what it is like to be an informant.įirst off, most informants are referred to as Confidential Informants (CIs) by themselves, police and courts. I have worked with all types of informants for more than 30 years. Check it out and add your own thoughts in our comments section. A question posted recently on Quora asked, “What is it like to work with police informants?” Retired special agent Bob Cooke gave his opinion on the topic, below.

Police informant