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  • ABM's Crime and Investigation Blog

    Posts Tagged ‘confidential informant’

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    Jim Kouri on confidential informants

    Friday, August 27th, 2010

    Just found an excellent article by Jim Kouri, VP of the National Association of Chiefs of Police in the US, which looks at some of the reasons why it is necessary to use confidential informants in the fight against crime. Well worth a read at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/kouri/100601

    Tags: confidential informant, law enforcement, police, US
    Posted by Edward Mills in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Lack of paper trail implies suspect behaviour

    Thursday, August 26th, 2010

    A Las Vegas police detective is under investigation for allegedly lying to authorities to get permission to search suspected drug dealers’ homes. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Detective Bryan Yant said that he watched a confidential informant purchase drugs from William Sigler, giving justification to search Sigler’s house. But Sigler’s attorneys now say that the informant never bought drugs from Sigler. The paperwork from the case is partially completed or missing, adding weight to the accusations of malpractice.

    abmpegasus is specifically designed to reduce the potential for dodgy record keeping, making all officers more accountable and improvement transparency of operations to improve management oversight.

    Tags: confidential informant, law enforcement, narcotics, US
    Posted by Edward Mills in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Another 12 cases of entrapment by an informant

    Monday, August 23rd, 2010

    12 men and women have been cleared of accusations that they were members of the Latin Kings gang according the The St Petersburg Times. Police raided a meeting of the gang in 2006, arresting 52 people on racketeering charges. However, it transpires that an informant, Luis Agosto, working for the FBI and Tampa police, had reinvigorated the gang and threatened people with violence if they didn’t attend meetings. Police also allegedly overlooked numerous instances of criminal behaviour by Agosto.

    This is yet another in a series of incidents illustrating inadequate risk assessment and checking of informants’ reliability. In this case it appears that the entire police sting was founded on the informant’s efforts, leading to the possibility of serious consequences for the law enforcement agencies involved.

    Tags: confidential informant, corruption, entrapment, law enforcement, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Is it too easy to abuse an informant?

    Monday, August 23rd, 2010

    If allegations reported in The Post-Bulletin are true, then the sheriff of Dodge County made a serious error of judgement in his dealing with the investigator accused of coercing a female informant into having sex with him. The lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department suggests that the Sheriff’s department was made aware of the accusation in August 2009 but took no action against Jeremy Gunderson, the narcotics investigator at the centre of the allegations.

    The allegations suggest that there are significant procedural issues that need to be resolved and that accountability of informant handlers needs to be improved.

    Tags: accountability, confidential informant, corruption, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Stealing police funds leads to 20 month prison sentence for police officer

    Friday, August 20th, 2010

    Baltimore City Drug Enforcement Officer Mark Lunsford faces a 20 month prison sentence for sharing $10,000 with a police informant and stealing a diamond watch worth $18,000 from someone’s house during a drugs raid. The US DoJ has reported that the 40 year old officer has been required to leave the police force and has been sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release.

    This story reiterates the need to law enforcement agencies to improve their management of confidential informants, particularly with regard to informant payouts.

    Tags: confidential informant, corruption, law enforcement, narcotics, police, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    All eyes on the informant

    Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

    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.

    Tags: confidential informant, fbi, law enforcement, Terrorism, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    An unreliable informant could cost you $4.9m

    Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

    The Mayor of Atlanta has offered a $4.9 million settlement to the family of Kathryn Johnston according to the Atlanta Journal.  92-year-old Johnston was killed in 2006 by Atlanta Police after an informant said he had purchased drugs from her home. When undercover police officers knocked down her door she reached fired a shot from a gun leading the police to shoot and kill her. It was later revealed that the informant had lied, no drugs were found at Johnston’s house and the undercover officers had planted drugs on Johnston to cover up their mistake.

    Not only has this tragic case cost the city $4.9m in settlement money, but it led to several police officers being sentenced and has severely impacted public confidence in law enforcement.

    Tags: atlanta police, confidential informant, Kathryn Johnston, law enforcement, narcotics, undercover police officers, US
    Posted by Edward Mills in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Man wanted by police for assaulting an infant is used as an informant

    Thursday, August 12th, 2010

    According to Jacksonville Daily News it has been revealed that Jacksonville Police Department used a fugitive who is suspected of breaking a 5-month-old child’s left arm as an informant in a major drugs bust last year. This was in clear breach of the police department’s policies that prohibit the use of fugitives as informants.

    45 suspects were charged in the undercover operation in which the informant was involved. The revelations about the informant’s status may lead to cases against them being dropped.

    The department should review its policies and how they are enforced in order to  prevent such occurrences from being repeated.

    Tags: confidential informant, law enforcement, narcotics, police, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, US Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Drugs offender turned DEA informant ends up dead

    Monday, August 9th, 2010

    According to Newsroom Panama, a confidential informant for the US DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) who was sent to Panama whilst in the agency’s witness protection program was killed, along with his son and wife, in 2007 by William “Wild Bill” Holbert. The informant, known as Mike Brown, was unlucky enough to have crossed paths with Holbert who was arrested in Panama last week under suspicion of a series of murder charges.

    Tags: confidential informant, witness protection
    Posted by The Hawk in International Police, Law enforcement | No Comments »



    Confidential Informant falls back into bad habits

    Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

    No matter how helpful a confidential informant is, some of them will always return to bad habits. Duluth News Tribune reports today that drug informant Paul Kastern has been jailed for five years for selling methamphetamine. Since the 1980s, Kastern has helped police convict other drugs offenders in return for having his own sentences reduced. He even helped to convict his own attorney of snorting cocaine and smoking marijuana. However, in February 2009, Kastern was caught out when another confidential informant purchased meth from him on three separate occasions.

    Tags: confidential informant, narcotics, US
    Posted by The Hawk in Law enforcement, UK Police | No Comments »



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