Informers : Policing, policy, practice

193 Pages·2013·4.103 MB·English

by  Bean, Philip, Billingsley, Roger, Nemitz, Teresa

INFORMERS
POLICING, POLICY, PRACTICE
Roger Billingsley, Teresa Nemitz, Philip Bean
WILLAN
PUBLISHING
Informers
Policing, policy, practice
Edited by
Roger Billingsley, Teresa Nemitz
and Philip Bean
WILLAN
Published by:
Willan Publishing
Culmcott House
Mill Street, Uffculme
Cullompton, Devon
EX15 3AT, UK
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Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by:
Willan Publishing
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Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA
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© 2001 Willan Publishing for selection and editorial matter; contributors for
individual chapters.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the
prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting copying
in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham
Court Road, London W1P 9HE.
First published 2001
ISBN 1-903240-07-7
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typesetting and page layout by Willan Publishing. Text set in Palatino.
Printed and bound by T.J. International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
Foreword by Sir John Evans, President of the Association of
Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland vii
Preface by David Wakenshaw, Chairman, ACPO
National Informant Working Group ix
Editors' preface xi
Notes on the contributors 1
Introduction 5
1 Drugs, crime and informers 25
Philip Bean and Roger Billingsley
2 Informers and corruption 38
Roy Clark
3 The ethics of informer handling 50
Tom Williamson and Peter Bagshaw
4 Informers, agents and accountability 67
Nigel South
5 Informers' careers: motivations and change 81
Roger Billingsley
6 Gender issues in informer handling 98
Teresa Nemitz
7 Juvenile informers 110
Carole Ballardie and Paul Iganski
iii
8 Where the grass is greener? Supergrasses in
comparative perspective 123
Steven Greer
9 Managing anonymous informants through Crimestoppers 141
Bill Griffiths and Alan Murphy
10 Informers and witness protection schemes 153
Philip Bean
11 Regulating informers: the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Act, covert policing and human rights 164
Peter Neyroud and Alan Beckley
Index 176
iv
List of figures and tables
Figures
6.1 Types of witness/informer in witness protection scheme 106
Tables
5.1 Main reasons for starting to inform 86
5.2 Informers' reasons for informing - changes through time 89
5.3 Breakdown of how reasons for informing are likely to change
through time 91
9.1 Crimestoppers: arrests and rewards 1996-1998 147
9.2 Crimestoppers: numbers of informers introduced into the
Metropolitan Police informer system 1995-1999 148
9.3 Arrests from Crimestoppers 1990-1999 149
9.4 Results of Crimestoppers survey 149
9.5 Value of Crimestoppers' information 150
9.6 Offenders revealed by Crimestoppers 150
9.7 Police officers' views of Crimestoppers information 151
9.8 Crimestoppers: variance with previous two weeks
before campaign 151
11.1 A framework for compliance for police use of informers 169
V

Foreword
Sir John Evans
Information and intelligence have always been, and will remain, the most
essential components of policing and, indeed, all law enforcement work.
They are the lifeblood of every enquiry from the simplest of offences to the
most complex organised crime or matter of national security.
Sources of information are many and varied, ranging from the
everyday interaction of officers with the public, anonymous reports via
the Crimestoppers scheme, the use of paid and unpaid informants from
the criminal fraternity, to the Security Services' use of agents.
For a number of good reasons, a growing reliance has been placed on
the police use of informers which is reflected in, for example, the Audit
Commission's 'Helping with enquiries - tackling crime effectively' (1993).
Intelligence-led policing is now the norm, with the use of informants a
valuable source of the information required for the process.
The integrity of the use of informants has, however, led to questions
from some about the validity of such methods. Concern has been fuelled
by a perception of too much secrecy, coupled equally with high profile
cases of corruption centering around the misuse of informants, at a time
when the need for policing with integrity has never been more important.
Clearly, ensuring the adequate protection of information and managing
issues of confidentiality, need to be balanced with the requirements of
openness and appropriateness. The Crime and Disorder Act has brought
with it an added impetus to this need and the requirements to share
information with community safety partners will be hampered unless an
atmosphere of openness, trust and proportionality prevails.
The issue of informers is vitally important and complex. This book
seeks to draw together those complexities and provide an invaluable
resource for both practitioners and academics alike. I hope the book will
encourage debate and contribute towards the desire of the Police Service
to ensure the ethical use of information supports its purpose to uphold the
law fairly and with integrity.
Sir John Evans, OStJ, QPM, DL, LL.B
Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary
President, Association of Chief Police Officers
of England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Preface
David A Wakenshaw
As chairman of the ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) National
Informant Working Group I am delighted to be associated with this
publication which will inform, enhance and develop the understanding of
this critical area of law enforcement. The contributors are all experts
within their own field and from their differing perspectives ensure that the
topics are covered in great depth and with wisdom.
The book will be of interest to professionals both within and without
the law enforcement area and will have particular relevance to
practitioners in developing working practices. It is absolutely essential for
the future of law enforcement that the ethical, professional and effective
use of human intelligence sources is enhanced and encouraged. It is
therefore incumbent on all practitioners to deal with this topic with total
integrity and this publication should greatly assist this.
The future holds many challenges for law enforcement with the
European Human Rights legislation on the immediate horizon and many
technological advances testing our abilities to the full. These challenges
must be met in a positive way and in the arena of informants many of
these challenges will be extremely testing. It will be a measure of law
enforcement how we meet these. I feel sure that they will be met and
results achieved which will benefit the community we serve.
I wish this publication well.
David A. Wakenshaw
Assistant Chief Constable, National Crime Squad
Chair, ACPO National Informant Working Group