Snitching

Criminal Informant Law, Policy, and Research

Informant Crime

USA Today on crimes committed by FBI informants

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Newly uncovered documents reveal that the FBI expressly authorized its informants (or Confidential Human Sources) to commit over 5,600 crimes in a year. USA Today obtained the documents in response to a FOIA request. Although it is well known that informants often continue to offend, this one of the first public accountings of informant crimes authorized by the government. The 5,600 number does not include unauthorized crimes committed by informants, although the FBI is required to document those as well.
The FBI has special rules governing the authorization of informant crime. Referred to as “Tier 1” and “Tier 2 Otherwise Illegal Activity,” handlers can approve the commission of crimes by their informants, as long as the informant does not personally commit perjury or a violent crime. Permissible crimes include: drug trafficking, crimes of violence committed by persons other than the informant, and the provision to a third party of “a controlled substance, an explosive, firearm, or other dangerous weapon…with little or no expectation of its recovery by the FBI.” Those rules can be found in the U.S. Dep’t of Justice Guidelines for the FBI’s Use of Confidential Human Sources. While 5,600 crimes may sound like a lot, this is the tip of the informant crime iceberg. As the USA Today story put it,

Crimes authorized by the FBI almost certainly make up a tiny fraction of the total number of offenses committed by informants for local, state and federal agencies each year. The FBI was responsible for only about 10% of the criminal cases prosecuted in federal court in 2011, and federal prosecutions are, in turn, vastly outnumbered by criminal cases filed by state and local authorities, who often rely on their own networks of sources.

In fact, the FBI has some of the best accountability and transparency rules in this area. Many state and local police departments lack guidelines for documenting or authorizing informant crime, leaving it to the discretion of individual officers to decide whether and under what circumstances their informants will be permitted to commit new crimes.

San Francisco police use violent career criminal as informant

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The San Francisco Weekly and the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute just released this indepth story about the SFPD’s use of a high-level gang leader as an informant over several years: Cover of Darkness: S.F. Police turned a blind eye to some of the city’s most dangerous criminals–who were also some of their most trusted soures. The story documents the clash between the S.F. police who protected their violent source in violation of their own policies, and the federal agents who ultimately arrested him. The debacle elicited scathing criticism from former law enforcement. From the story:

Thirty-year law enforcement veteran Chuck Drago and former police commissioner Peter Keane both believe that the existence of rogue informants for SFPD’s specialized Gang Task Force and Narcotics Bureau indicates serious flaws in the department’s internal checks and balances. (The SFPD’s Narcotics Bureau, Gang Task Force, and Media Relations Office wouldn’t comment on the department’s handling of violent informants for this story.) “Somebody is dropping the ball in management,” says Drago. “SFPD have let loose an unguided missile on the public” by allowing dangerous men like Sandoval (and, as we’ll see, at least one other) to stay at large in spite of their offenses, says Keane. “No modern police force with any professionalism engages in that sort of practice anymore.”

In the news: released jailhouse informant accused in new murder

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The Louisville Courier-Journal reports on a jailhouse informant who was released in exchange for his testimony. Two months later, he was charged in the murder of a 15-year-old. From the story:

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge McKay Chauvin told James Mallory in February that he wasn’t a good choice to be released from prison on shock probation, given his criminal history — and, in fact, the judge had already denied the request previously.

But Chauvin nonetheless released him at prosecutors’ request after Mallory came forward with what he called “bombshell” information in a letter offering the Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office evidence against several defendants in exchange for helping him get out of a nine-year prison term.

Now, just two months later, Mallory is charged with murdering a 15-year-old boy.

In the news: Seattle ATF informant with history of crime against women

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A story by the Seattle Times about an ATF informant with a disturbing history of violence against women: Violent criminal on federal payroll as informant. The story begins like this:

Despite a history of abusing women and violent behavior in prison, Joshua Allan Jackson managed to become a federal informant, trigger a citywide Seattle police alert and hold a 18-year-old woman as his sexual prisoner.

FOX News story on informants in Boston

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FOX Undercover in Boston ran this story on the dangers of informant use: Informants cutting deals to continue lives of crime. Congressman Stephen Lynch was interviewed for the story. Lynch is the author of the Confidential Informant Accountability Act, see this post. When asked whether he was worried that informants get a “free pass,” here is what he said:

It’s worse than that. They get a free pass to continue their criminal enterprise. They get protection, basically amnesty. I just think there’s a corrosive element to this confidential informant program.

By contrast, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan focused on the benefits that informants can provide when investigating corrupt organizations:

Particularly as you’re looking at things like organized crime, they played a critical role with regard to putting matters together in order to infiltrate the organization. It took a long time for the government to penetrate these organizations, and they did it initially by using informants, finding people who had some vulnerabilities and then exploiting those vulnerabilities and getting them to become government cooperators.