Confidential Informant

Confidential Informant
Author: John Madinger
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 354
Release: 1999-10-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781420048704

He baffled and eluded law enforcement officers for nearly two decades. In the end, however, it wasn't the painstaking forensic analysis of hundreds of pieces of crime scene evidence that led to the capture of the Unabomber-but the lucky tip of an informant. Truth of the matter is, for all their sophistication and hi-tech science, crime-fighting techniques such as fingerprint and DNA analysis are a factor in less than one percent of all criminal cases. In the overwhelming number of crimes, informants have provided the necessary ammunition needed to bring criminals to justice, from Genovese to Gotti and Capone to Dillinger. Confidential Informant: Understanding Law Enforcement's Most Valuable Tool explores the covert and clandestine world of informants-revealing the secrets of how to find them and make the most out of them, while at the same time, avoiding the pitfalls of dealing with them. Using case studies in which informants played key roles in solving crimes, the book examines all aspects of informant development and management, from the motivation of the informant to the legal problems that accompany the use of informants in criminal cases. Written by John Madinger, a former narcotics agent, supervisor and administrator, and currently a Senior Special Agent with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, Confidential Informant: Understanding Law Enforcement's Most Valuable Tool examines the emotional and behavioral characteristics of the informant, as well as the psychology of trust and betrayal. The book also illustrates techniques for improving interviewing and communication skills when dealing with informants, and provides invaluable forms that can be used in connection with these vital sources of information.

Human Sources

Human Sources
Author: John Buckley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre:
ISBN:

Human sources, also known as confidential informants, are an essential law enforcement resource in the fight against crime and terrorism. How they are managed has changed little over the years. This book provides law enforcement with details of how to manage human sources, in line with the goals of intelligence-led policing, and in a way that maximizes the amount of information obtained. The book is based on over 35 years of real-world experience and uses research gained from interviews carried out internationally, with hundreds of law enforcement officers. It delivers the structures necessary to ensure ethical behavior and to minimize the risk of corruption. It includes details of new methods that apply psychology, to gain a much greater amount of more accurate information, in interviews with human sources. Written by an internationally recognized expert, it is essential reading for anyone interested in how informants should be managed.

Snitching

Snitching
Author: Alexandra Natapoff
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2009-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0814758584

2010 Honorable Mention, Silver Gavel Award, American Bar Association Uncovers the powerful and problematic practice of snitching to reveal disturbing truths about how American justice works Albert Burrell spent thirteen years on death row for a murder he did not commit. Atlanta police killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during a misguided raid on her home. After being released by Chicago prosecutors, Darryl Moore—drug dealer, hit man, and rapist—returned home to rape an eleven-year-old girl. Such tragedies are consequences of snitching—police and prosecutors offering deals to criminal offenders in exchange for information. Although it is nearly invisible to the public, criminal snitching has invaded the American legal system in risky and sometimes shocking ways. Snitching is the first comprehensive analysis of this powerful and problematic practice, in which informant deals generate unreliable evidence, allow criminals to escape punishment, endanger the innocent, compromise the integrity of police work, and exacerbate tension between police and poor urban residents. Driven by dozens of real-life stories and debacles, the book exposes the social destruction that snitching can cause in high-crime African American neighborhoods, and how using criminal informants renders our entire penal process more secretive and less fair. Natapoff also uncovers the far-reaching legal, political, and cultural significance of snitching: from the war on drugs to hip hop music, from the FBI’s mishandling of its murderous mafia informants to the new surge in white collar and terrorism informing. She explains how existing law functions and proposes new reforms. By delving into the secretive world of criminal informants, Snitching reveals deep and often disturbing truths about the way American justice really works.

Speaking Truth to Power

Speaking Truth to Power
Author: Dean A. Dabney
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2016-08-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520964624

Domestic drug enforcement takes many forms, from the rural patrol officer who happens upon a small-scale mobile “shake and bake” methamphetamine lab during a routine traffic stop, to the city narcotics detective who initiates a low-level buy-bust operation that nets a few hits of crack cocaine on the street corner, to the local, state, and federal agents working in multiagency task forces that coordinate a sting operation that nets thousands of kilos of near-pure cocaine being transported by tractor-trailer. Regardless of the form, there is a high probability that these authorities have exploited access to known offenders and exerted pressure on those individuals to gather inside information on illicit drug sales. These confidential informants provide intelligence on the inner workings of drug operations in exchange for leniency or remuneration, providing a relatively cheap source of intelligence that fuels much of the ongoing war on drugs. In other instances, law enforcement authorities will reach out to members of the criminal underworld who are willing to provide valuable intelligence in exchange for money. Despite the central role of informants in contemporary police operations, little is known about the shadowy relationships among law enforcement, snitches, and offenders. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the narcotics, homicide, and street-level vice operations in two major metropolitan police departments, Speaking Truth to Power takes readers to the front lines of the war on drugs to unravel this complex web of information exchange.

Confidential Informants

Confidential Informants
Author: Jon Shane
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2015-09-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 331922252X

While confidential informants (CI’s) can play a crucial role in police investigations, they also have the potential to cause great harm if they are dishonest. The process by which police agencies qualify a CI to work and the strength of agency policy may be the source of the problem. This Brief examines the integrity problem involving CIs in police operations within the United States, provides an overview of pitfalls and problems related to veracity and informant integrity including the difficulties in detecting when a CI is lying, and compares the provisions of actual published police policy to the model CI policy published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The analysis shows a wide divergence between actual police policy and the national standard promulgated by the IACP. The Brief provides policy recommendations for improving use of CIs that can potentially reduce or eliminate integrity problems that can lead to organizational accidents such as wrongful arrests and convictions, injuries or deaths. Some Courts have issued measures to ensure that information received from CIs is reliable by examining sworn testimony and documents related to their work. However, as this Brief explores, this judicial effort arises only after a police operation has taken place, and the use of force – even deadly force—has already been employed. The author proposes integrity testing beforehand, which would allow police to have a greater understanding of a CI’s motivation, ability and veracity when conducting law enforcement operations. In addition, there are aspects of police policy that can enhance CI management such as training, supervision and entrapment that can further guard against integrity problems. Although integrity testing is not flawless, it does interpose an additional step in the CI management process that can help guard against wrongful conviction and perjury that harms the judicial process.

Why PETA Kills

Why PETA Kills
Author: Nathan Winograd
Publisher:
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2017-11-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9781979144636

Why? Why does PETA kill thousands of dogs and cats every year? Why are PETA employees instructed to acquire animals by any means necessary - which has included lying and theft - in order to kill those animals? Why do they encourage others to kill them? And why do they embrace and defend even abusive animal shelters?Former PETA employees say it is the result of the deeply perverse version of animal activism promoted by PETA founder and President, Ingrid Newkirk. They can explain how employees are made to watch "heart wrenching" films about animal abuse to instill into them the belief that people are incapable of caring for animals and that PETA is doing what is best for animals by killing them. PETA also claims that animals cannot live without human care, which is why they round up animals living outdoors in order to put them to death. The animals are, in short, damned either way and thus killing them is a "gift."Collected within are interviews with former PETA employees, documents from civil and criminal court cases against PETA, photos of animals killed by PETA, inspection reports by the State Veterinarian in Virginia where PETA is headquartered, as well as admissions of killing, and support for killing, by Ingrid Newkirk herself. Together, this information leads to a tragic and disturbing conclusion: PETA is letting loose upon the world individuals who not only believe that killing is a good thing and that the living want to die, but who are legally armed with lethal drugs which they have already proven - at least 32,744 times in the last 13 years - that they are not averse to using.

Informants, Cooperating Witnesses, and Undercover Investigations

Informants, Cooperating Witnesses, and Undercover Investigations
Author: Dennis G. Fitzgerald
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2014-11-05
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1040083633

This book covers every aspect of the informant and cooperating witness dynamic a controversial technique shrouded in secrecy and widely misunderstood. Quoted routinely in countless newspaper and magazine articles, the first edition was the go-to guide for practical, effective guidance on this tricky yet powerful tactic. Extensively updated, topics in this second edition include changes in the FBI's informant program, changes brought on by immigration reforms, recent high-profile cases, and the changing nature of compensation and cooperation fees. It also examines the management of informant-driven search warrants and challenges posed by fabricated information.

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Model Rules of Professional Conduct
Author: American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher: American Bar Association
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2007
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781590318737

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

The Informant

The Informant
Author: Kurt Eichenwald
Publisher: Portobello Books
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2012-02-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1846274648

The Informant is Mark Whitacre, a senior executive with America's most powerful food giant, who put his career and his family's safety at risk to become a confidential government witness. Using Whitacre's secret recordings and a team of agents, the FBI uncovered the corporation's scheme to steal millions of dollars from its own customers. But as the FBI closed in on their target, they suddenly realized that Whitacre wasn't quite playing the game they'd thought ... This is the gripping account of how a corporate golden boy became an FBI mole and went on to double-cross both the authorities and his employers in one of the most extraordinary cases of global corporate corruption of the last thirty years.