U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Criminal Informants: An Administrator's Dream or Nightmare

NCJ Number
132199
Journal
Prosecutor Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 23-26
Author(s)
H A Mount Jr
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This discussion emphasizes the need for law enforcement administrators to establish and maintain several areas of strict control, and it outlines the steps to establishing a criminal informant program.
Abstract
Administrative controls necessary to operate an effective criminal informant program include: protecting an informant's identity, ensuring information is recorded in files, both disseminating information to appropriate personnel and guarding the information from general perusal, involving mid-level managers in overseeing informant operations, employing alternate informant handlers, and developing strict payment procedures. The use of criminal informants is cost-effective as informants provide intelligence, insight, and information that lead to arrests and convictions and allow a law enforcement agency to expend its personnel on activities that offer a high likelihood of success. 4 footnotes

Downloads

No download available

Availability