The jury-selection started this week for the trial of four men accused of plotting to blow up a New York synagogue and shoot down planes taking off from a nearby Air Force base. However, as reported by The Christian Science Monitor, significant attention will be given to a fifth man who infiltrated the terrorist group whilst acting as a confidential informant for the FBI. It is likely that defense attorneys for the four accused men will claim that they were subjected to entrapment tactics.

This illustrates the difficulty of using confidential informants to support criminal investigations. Law enforcement agencies have to be very careful to make sure that informants abide by codes of conduct and don’t encourage potential villains to commit crimes that they wouldn’t otherwise have committed. Policy and procedure are crucial, as well as regular communication with the informant and subsequent documentation of that communication. There is no room for error when the stakes are so high. abmpegasus helps law enforcement agencies to manage processes surrounding confidential informants.