Georgia Terror Case Reveals Importance of Informant Reliability

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The importance of ensuring informant reliability is currently being demonstrated in federal court as four men are accused of plotting to attack US government officials.

As reported by 11 Alive, the court heard recordings of the men discussing their targets. However, defense lawyers are arguing that the recording have been taken out of context and that they were recorded by an unreliable confidential informant with “a series of legal troubles, including two recent charges of child pornography and child molestation”.

In such cases, corroboration of evidence is crucial – given the seriousness of the charges and the allegations against the informant, one has to hope that the prosecution has some good corroborative evidence up their sleeves.

Counterfeit cigarettes fuel national grid

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The fight against illicit tabacco products continues – The UK Borders Agency and HM Revenue & Customs officers have arrested two men on suspicion of smuggling 10 million cigarettes into the UK. The smuggled cigarettes, which arrived in the UK by cargo container from Dubai, had evaded around £1.8 million in duty.

The confiscated cigarettes will apparently be incinerated, providing power to the National Grid.

Flaky procedures lead to flaking officers

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‘Flaking’, the corrupt practice of law enforcement officers planting drugs on people to justify their arrest, is the subject of a major court trial against eight NYPD undercover officers in the Brooklyn South Narcotics Squad.

The latest revelation, as reported by the Daily Mail, is that one of the accused officers gave cocaine to a woman in return for sexual favours.

The whole debacle highlights the need for improved management practices within undercover law enforcement. Tools, such as abmpegasus, already exist to help law enforcement improve management oversight of undercover operations and operatives. Failure to properly implement and enforce management practices can lead to the sort of abuses of power that are being uncovered in the Brooklyn South trial.

If law enforcement agencies want to maintain the trust of citizens, they must carefully consider their undercover management policies and procedures and ensure that they are vigorously implemented and adhered to.

Will H.R. 3228 improve confidential informant management?

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Congressman Stephen F. Lynch has introduced a bill (the Confidential Informant Accountability Act of 2011 – H.R. 3228) to improve the way that confidential informants are managed by US federal law enforcement agencies. Lynch introduced the bill in response to the James “Whitey” Bulger case in which Bulger, a notorious gang leader acting as a confidential informant for the FBI, is alleged to have gunned down two men.

The legislation would impose a number of safeguards for confidential informant management as well as making it easier for the victims of rogue confidential informants to sue the government for negligence.

The bill would require law enforcement agencies to report any serious crimes committed by confidential informants to Congress every six months. Certain details would have to be included but informant names and identifying information would be excluded to protect anonymity.

The ultimate aim is to improve oversight of confidential informant programme and ensure that the system is not abused by law enforcement officials.

In order to achieve a truly fair and safe system, law enforcement agencies need to think carefully about how their policies and procedures work to assess and mitigate the risks associated with confidential informants. Failure to properly assess a confidential informant for reliability and trustworthiness can have potentially catastrophic consequences. Whilst regular reporting of confidential informants’ illegal activity to Congress may help to prevent some malpractice, it does not necessarily eliminate the potential for other things to go wrong in the system. Confidential informant management software can be a useful tool in helping to achieve this, but if the management of confidential informants is really to improve it is important that internal cultures are addressed as well.

 

Retail shrinkage up 6.6% since last year

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The annual Global Retail Theft Barometer has found that shrinkage (shoplifting, employee fraud, organised crime etc.) has increased globally by 6.6% this year, totalling €88.878 million. In Europe, the increase in shrinkage has been even greater at 7.8% (representing 1.39% of retail sales).

Expenditure on loss prevention and security increased by 5.6% globally to €21m but the author of the report, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said that those retailers which achieved a reduction in shrinkage increased their loss prevention expenditure by twice this figure.

The report shows that, in these difficult economic times, retail theft is a growing problem. Retailers must think more creatively to overcome the challenges and maintain control over shrinkage.

Confidential Informants – understand what you’re agreeing to!

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A confidential informant in Wyoming has just lost the appeal against his drug conviction. The informant, Marshal Lewis Washington, had agreed to become a confidential informant for Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation after he was imprisoned for shoplifting. Unfortunately, Washington took this to mean that he was authorised to buy drugs without law enforcement supervision. Before conducting a controlled drug buy, narcotics officers performed a customary search of Washington’s car where they found “an array of controlled substances”… They promptly arrested him for possession.

Despite Washington’s appeal that he believed DCI agents had authorised him to buy drugs on his own, the DCI insisted that he has been thoroughly briefed regarding his role. Washington lost his appeal on Tuesday.

This story, as reported in trib.com, emphasises the importance of properly explaining ground rules and expectation to confidential informants. Failure to do so can, as exemplified here, just facilitate more criminal activity.

 

Crimestoppers experiences 700% increase in calls following London riots

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Following the civil disturbances in London during August, Crimestoppers received over 2,500 actionable calls after CCTV images were released of various offenders. In conversation with the Head of Operations at Crimestoppers, I was pleased to hear that abmpegasus Information In Confidence played an important part in Crimestoppers’ activity during that period. The abmpegasus system was implemented at Crimestoppers to provide a more reliable and resilient system for securely managing confidential information. The riots could not have been predicted then, but the decision to upgrade their systems certainly paid off – despite a 700% increase in calls and 40% increase in users of the abmpegasus system, it continued to provide a reliable service, ensuring the security and confidentiality of information provided by members of the public.

Read more about how abmpegasus supported Crimestoppers during the riots.

Police Resilience in Spite of Cuts

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#suptconf11 – Police Resilience and Staffing Cuts… Two of the key issues at the core of discussions during the Police Superintendents’ Association conference this week.

During the opening session, Dr. Timothy Brain suggested that, “the sword of Damocles has fallen on police”. With a projected loss of 16,000 police officers and 18,000 staff, the budget cuts will certainly have a significant impact on UK policing. Such cuts will demand new approaches to the way that police resources and operations are managed. Despite the apparent concern, Derek Barnett, president of the PSAEW, was upbeat, emphasising throughout the conference that “change is upon us but change can be positive”. The changes will demand a more efficient, more intelligence-led, more proactive approach to policing that achieves more with less.

At ABM, we support the notion that change can be positive and are keen to work with our customers to work out ways of delivering police services in more efficient ways. We are listening now more than ever to the issues that are troubling police forces – from reduction in back office staff to concerns over the efficiency of intelligence operations. Through cooperation with technology developers like ABM, police forces really can deliver the results that the public depend on.

Intellectual Property Crime Report 2010-2011

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The Intellectual Property Office has published its annual IP Crime report, showing that the sale and distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods over the internet has increased over the last year. It cites a number of major counterfeiting cases including an £11m confiscation order secured by Enfield Trading Standards in May 2010 and the jailing of six men who used high-tech equipment to produce 24 fake bottles of vodka a minute.

The report highlights that counterfeiting is a continuing problem for brands in a wide variety of industries and that much more needs to be done to prevent the production, import and sale of counterfeit goods.

Addressing sexual offenses and misconduct by law enforcement

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Published June 2011, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) executive guide to “Addressing Sexual Offenses and Misconduct by Law Enforcement” raises some troubling questions for law enforcement agencies across America and beyond. Failure to maintain adequate management oversight of officers’ actions can be an important factor contributing to the risk of sexual misconduct. Law enforcement agencies looking for a solution to the problem should consider abmpegasus – a leading software system for law enforcement that improves management oversight of undercover policing activity.

Reported on this blog just yesterday was the case of Vancouver Police Department (WA), where four officers have been disciplined after it was revealed that a confidential informant handler was having an inappropriate relationship with his informant. Such behaviour seriously damages the reputation of law enforcement agencies and it is essential that agencies take strong action to prevent such transgressions.