Tag Archives: narcotics

Managing the Risk of Juvenile Confidential Informants

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The Miami Times recently ran a three part feature on the dangers of law enforcement using teenagers or young people as confidential informants (CIs). The article focuses on the case of Bosco Enriquez who moved from Nicaragua to Miami with his family when he was four years old. Unfortunately at the age of 13 Enriquez got involved with the notorious International Posse gang. In 1996, at the age of 15, his family’s house was raided by police and he was charged with aggravated battery. Enriquez then started working with police as a confidential informant, helping to bust as many as 30 gang members for drugs offences.

In the article, Enriquez explains his experience of conducting a controlled drug buy to incriminate a fellow gang member: “I was terrified. This was a violent guy and I was a 15-year-old kid.” Enriquez says that his involvement as a confidential informant led him to start taking drugs himself. He also claims that, after helping law enforcement, the police abandoned him. He was beaten and raped by other prisoners whilst in police custody and then deported to Nicaragua for a minor drugs charge where he remains to this day.

The article goes on to state that in 1997, Enriquez’s handler revealed his name in a deposition, stating, “His horror story is emblematic of a bigger problem that lawmakers in Florida and across the nation have only recently begun to recognize: Cops employ confidential informants — sometimes very young ones — to bust criminals. But there’s little oversight, and the result of police carelessness can be horrific.”

The Miami New Times cites two examples of young confidential informants who were killed in separate incidents whilst working for law enforcement – 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman and 17-year-old Chad McDonald.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of these cases, it is clear that the use of young confidential informants carries a high degree of risk. And, whilst the use of young informants may not be desirable, sometimes it is a necessary tool in the fight against organised crime. It is important, therefore, that juvenile CIs are managed properly.

Implementing effective strategies for risk assessment, governance, protection of identity and the management of financial transactions are crucial to protecting the human rights of young CIs. Informant management software, like abmpegasus, can help to ensure that all issues surrounding juvenile confidential informants are properly managed. The abmpegasus system, for example, includes a number of features specifically designed for dealing with juvenile CIs:

  • Review dates – ensure that young CIs are subjected to more frequent regular reviews
  • Escalated approval – ensure that the use of young CIs is authorised by a senior officer
  • Warnings – automatically alert handlers to the juvenile status of young informants

In addition to these areas, abmpegasus also provides comprehensive functionality to manage all aspects of any confidential informant, ensuring that operations are properly assessed for risk, appropriately authorised and carefully managed.

Drugs Sting Goes Badly Wrong in Texas

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A confidential informant is murdered, the truck he was driving is buried in a wall, a Sheriff’s Deputy is shot by another police officer and four people are injured in a collision with a school bus.

This sounds like the plot of a car chase in a blockbuster movie. Unfortunately it was all the result of an undercover narcotics operation that went badly wrong in Texas last week.

As reported by KHOU, undercover officers from Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), Houston Police Department (HPD) and members of the Drugs Task Force were following a truck being driven by a confidential informant. The truck was loaded with at least 300lb of marijuana and the law enforcement officers were following it in order to arrest the drug dealers who would receive the delivery. However, whilst en route several other vehicles suddenly appeared, showering the truck with bullets and killing the confidential informant. A gun battle that followed, with officers firing back at the hijackers killing one of them, while another one was hit twice by a patrol vehicle. In the confusion a plain clothes HCSO deputy was allegedly shot in the leg by a HPD officer who didn’t recognise him. A patrol vehicle responding to the scene added to the chaos by colliding with a school bus, injuring the two drivers and two other people.

It is not clear whether the hijackers were intending to steal the drugs shipment or just assassinate the confidential informant. What is clear, however, is that the law enforcement operation certainly did not go to plan, despite law enforcement succeeding in arresting four men accused of storming the truck.

The whole case raises issues over confidential informant anonymity and protection, risk management and deconfliction. When dealing with narcotics and unpredictable drug dealers, mistakes can happen. I just hope that law enforcement went through proper procedures to assess the risk associated with this particular operation before they embarked upon it.

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.

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.

 

Legalising drugs probably wouldn’t reduce police corruption

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I have to conclude that Radley Balko’s article “War on Drugs Corrupting America’s Cops” fails to fully understand the reason behind corrupt behaviour in narcotics law enforcement. It is not the “war on drugs” causing police corruption – it is process failure and lack of accountability. If processes are properly followed and senior law enforcement officers have proper oversight of covert activity, there is little opportunity for corrupt behaviour to occur. Every example that Balko uses could probably have been avoided if systems were in place to properly record and monitor covert activity.

Removing drug prohibition does not solve the problem – accountability issues will still remain. The answer is to improve management oversight across all covert operations and make it harder for police officers to stray away from acceptable behaviour.

Senior narcotics officer caught selling confiscated drugs

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The leader of a multi-agency anti-narcotics team in Contra Costa county (California) was charged this week having allegedly been caught on film selling a pound of methamphetamine to a confidential informant. The officer had allegedly stolen the drugs from a law enforcement evidence locker, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Working in cahoots with another man, the officer is reported to have raided evidence lockers on various occasions in a bid to boost his earnings before retirement.

This is yet another example of the need to improve processes and procedures surrounding undercover narcotics operations – operations might be sensitive and confidential but this doesn’t mean they can’t be subject to good management oversight.

Unreliable informant leads to dropped drugs charges

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Two suspected drug dealers have just had their charges dropped after the Sheriff’s department decided that the confidential informant who was crucial to the case was unreliable. As reported by The News Tribune, Pierce County sheriff’s office (Washington state) decided that the case against the two men could not stand as the confidential informant‘s testimony had come under question.

It’s  a pity that the Sheriff’s department hadn’t established the informant’s reliability before arresting the two men. As a result of their u-turn, the credibility of the law enforcement agency has been dented and the two men at the centre of the allegations are free to continue as they had before. The medical-marijuana cooperative that they operate has apparently opened a second site.

Assessing the credibility of confidential informants is an important and essential part of the CI management process, particularly when criminal cases depend heavily on their testimony. Law enforcement agencies should make sure that processes and procedures are in place to ensure confidential informants’ proper assessment for reliability and risk.

Police officer resigns over alleged relationship with confidential informant

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Police officer Erik McGarrity has resigned from Vancouver Police (Washington state) amid allegations of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a confidential informant. As reported by The Columbian, an investigation by Washington State Patrol found that the informant, a 25-year-old woman, worked as an informant for 43-year-old McGarrity (who was married with children) on drug related crimes in 2007. The following year a sexual relationship started between them.

Although McGarrity’s alleged actions were not illegal, they contravene the police department’s policy that continued association with those involved in criminal activity must be avoided.

It is difficult to eliminate the potential for this sort of situation to arise. However, introduction of clear professional standards and accountability surrounding the use and management of confidential informants, along with proper systems to record and monitor activity would help to improve professionalism and make it more obvious for senior officers when police officers’ relationships with informants risk overstepping the line of acceptability.

Another Tulsa prisoner requests review of case due to police corruption

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Sheila Devereux has asked for a review of her 2005 drugs trafficking conviction for which she is currently serving time in prison. As reported in Tulsa World, the request is justified by the fact that her arrest involved two Tulsa police officers who are charged with planting drugs and fabricating confidential informants. Devereux has maintained her innocence throughout. 21 people have already had their convictions or cases against them dismissed in one of Oklahoma’s most revealing police corruption trials.

How could all of this have been avoided? Better procedures, processes and accountability mechanisms would have been a start. The world of undercover narcotics investigations is typically opaque, but that doesn’t mean that internal control mechanisms can’t be effective in maintaining management oversight.

Life sentence dismissed in police corruption probe

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Demario Harris must be a happy man. On Wednesday his life sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute was thrown out by a U.S. District Judge because two police officers allegedly used a fabricated confidential informant and a falsified search warrant to justify his arrest. As reported by Tulsa World, Harris is the 21st person to be released early from prison as a result of an investigation into corruption within the police.

It must be highly frustrating for Tulsa Police to see convicted drug dealers having their sentences dismissed. However, it emphasises the point that shortcuts should never be taken to secure an arrest. Take a moment to think about the communities in Tulsa though – 21 people that police and the judicial system said were criminals are now exonerated and back in the community – faith in the judicial system really must be at an all time low, and all because of a few over-zealous cops…