SELECTION OF INFORMANTS

People seek social contacts with others, are curious about those around them, and note conditions unfamiliar to them. Feelings of suspicion are based on such observations. Many criminals have been apprehended just because something did not seem right to the investigator.

People seek recognition for their deeds and are prone to pass on rumors about the deeds of others. This trait makes complete secrecy difficult. It also creates the situation in which, if informants are properly handled, criminal exploits can come to light.

All people can be sources of information, and in the broad sense of the term, can be referred to as informants. A partial listing of those within the military community who can provide information that could enhance an investigation includes unit mail clerks, medical personnel, club or mess employees, public works maintenance personnel, newspaper carriers, base telephone personnel, and custodial personnel.

During the selection process, due consideration should be given to the informant's health (mental and physical), age, education, personality traits, experience or employment history, financial status, and criminal background. Failure to consider the whole person can result in wasted time and money.

Perhaps the most important consideration is an informant's reliability. All new information is verified through other reliable sources or, when an informant's reliability is being tested information known to and controlled by the investigator is solicited from the informant being evaluated. This procedure enables the investigator to assign a tentative degree of reliability to individual informants.

An informant's status is never viewed as a license for present or future misconduct. It is not only unethical, but also illegal (Art. 77, 78, 81, MCM), for any investigator or agency to establish a protective allegiance with those who have complicity in a criminal act.

MOTIVES OF INFORMANTS

The use of informants has often been criticized on moral and ethical grounds. The public tends to believe that law enforcement personnel condone and actually protect the criminal activity of an informant in return for his or her services. The informant is willing to furnish information for one or more of a number of reasons, none of which involves protection.

The investigator has the responsibility for evaluating the informant and the information given to arrive at the facts. Thus, the informant's motivation is important, and the investigator should attempt to determine what motivates each informant.

The Fear Motive

Self-preservation is the first law of nature. It might be expected, therefore, that an emotional reaction favorable to the investigative effort could result when a prospective informant is afraid of something. It could be a fear of the law or its enforcers.

For example:

SN Boate is apprehended during the commission of a commissary warehouse larceny. Two accomplices escaped at the approach of the security patrol that apprehended Boate. This larceny attempt was the third such theft in the last month, and each of the previous larcenies showed a similar modus operandi.

It is one of the practical facts of law enforcement that under such conditions the accused looking for sympathy, extenuation, mitigation or whatever they think might improve their lot, are often disposed to give a full account, or at least some account, of their crimes or those committed by others within their knowledge.

The informant thereby may furnish the investigator with direct evidence against other criminals or show how such evidence might be obtained.

Where such disclosures involve higher-ups or implicate others, this sort of development is very much to the advantage of law enforcement personnel. The practical effect in the police-informant relationship in this situation is a matter to be considered in mitigation before sentencing takes place.

One point must be stressed-a suspect undercharges cannot be expected to produce information simply because he or she has been apprehended

When the information is not forthcoming, it must not be supposed that the suspect does not have information or, that possessing it, is not willing to furnish it to the investigator. If information is to be obtained under these circumstances, the suspect must feel that such information will be welcomed and that the investigator will do whatever can be done to protect the informant from disclosure that he or she is the source of information.

The fear motive is not necessarily restricted to a fear of the law or its consequences.

It happens on occasion that an informant is a criminal who fears those associates who can, in the informant's opinion, mete out a more drastic form of punishment than military law. The informant, then, may be a frightened person who sees in the forces of the law the lesser of two evils.

Revenge Motives

Revenge may overwhelm the informant with an all-consuming desire for retaliation. That retaliation can take the form of disclosure of information to the authorities. It may arise again from a lack of honor among thieves. Sometimes it may come only from a feeling by a member of a criminal group that the member is being discriminated against or is not given the preferential treatment or opportunity to which that person is entitled. A desire for revenge sometimes arises from factors independent of criminal activities. Jealousies and quarrels over women or men can cause the closest of friends to become bitter enemies.

Perverse Motives

In this category are those motives of the informant who makes a disclosure in the hope of gaining some unusual advantage. An example of this type of informant is one who provides information on others engaged in a similar criminal activity to reduce the competition. In this category also are the operations of criminals who give worthless or trivial information, hoping that it will stimulate a reaction on the part of the investigator that will disclose the extent of police knowledge about the informant's activities. In this class also is the criminal who sees that law enforcement personnel receive false and misleading information, which might tend to divert suspicion from the informant's activities.

Egotistical Motives

A common characteristic of humanity seems to be that people take pleasure in spreading news to interested listeners. The petty offender who can enlist the undivided interest of an investigator with a meaty story gets a real kick out of the operation. The informant's ego is particularly enhanced if, by giving bits of information on the criminal activities of more notorious offenders, his or her importance is magnified.

Because the informant who is egotistically motivated often has a tendency to prattle, the investigator must be willing to listen to everything the informant has to say, or the investigator runs the risk of ignoring what might prove to be very valuable information.

Mercenary Motives

This type of informant provides information for the sole purpose of financial gain. The informant's interest is to sell information for the highest price. The information obtained from this informant is generally good; however, it can backfire if sold to a higher bidder or if it purposely misleads to sabotage the police effort.

Reform Motive

Occasionally, an informant will come to the authorities to repent wrongdoing because of a desire to make restitution, or to break with criminal elements. Although infrequently encountered, this type of informant can provide valuable information and, when properly managed, can become an excellent continuing source of police information.

Gratitude

A skillful investigator can develop a sense of gratitude in potential informants. Using this, the informant may wish to express appreciation by furnishing police information in return for the investigator's providing certain ethical assistance. A mere concern for the welfare of the informant may create this sense of gratitude.

Demented, Eccentric, or Nuisance Motives

A few people provide information because of a peculiar quirk in their personality. Generally, such informants are more of a bother than they are of value. However, they should never be cut short-each should be given the opportunity to tell his or her story, and it should be checked out. There may always be that one chance that the information given will provide the missing link in an important case.