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.
