"FBI Made Mistakes With Informants." Organized Crime Digest (August 1999): pp. 7-8.Abstract: FBI Director Louis Freeh has admitted, "We have a lot of mistakes to account for." Mobsters such as James "Whitey" Bulger have been mishandled and wronged by the Bureau when given permission to commit crimes in exchange for information about the mafia.

Adkins, T. E. "Informant Polygraph Testing." Polygraph 16, no. 2(1987): pp. 106-15.Abstract: To assist in the efficient use of police investigative resources and help ensure police officer safety, this article suggests when and how to conduct polygraph examinations of informants.

Crawford, Kimberly A. "A Constitutional Guide to the Use of Cellmate Informants." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (December 1995): pp. 18-23.Abstract: In a 1990 case addressing the constitutionality of cellmate informants (Illinois v. Perkins), the U.S. Supreme Court held that using cellmate informants does not violate the Miranda rule.

Dunnighan, Colin and Clive Norris. "The Detective, the Snout, and the Audit Commission: The Real Costs in Using Informants." The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 38, no. 1(1999): pp. 67-86.Abstract: In the context of the rise of proactive and intelligence-led policing strategies, this article examines claims as to the cost effectiveness of the police use of informers. In particular, it questions the Audit Commission's limited view of effectiveness based solely on reward money paid out and seeks to account for the full costs of running informers. These, it is argued, should include all operational and organizational costs associated with recruitment and managing informers. Moreover, as the reality of using informers raises profound ethical problems, there is a danger that an increase in their use could further undermine police legitimacy.

"A Risky Business: The Recruitment and Running of Informers by English Police Officers." Police Studies 19, no. 2(1996): pp. 1-25.Abstract: The movement, in the United Kingdom, towards the adoption of proactive policing strategies, and the concomitant emphasis on the use of informers, has resulted in police managers actively encouraging detective officers to increase their use of what is seen by them as a useful resource. However, such managerial exhortations have not been accompanied by the introduction of satisfactory control mechanisms. Drawing on data obtained over a two-year period from detailed interviews with detectives and informers, a comprehensive questionnaire and the examination of police files, this paper identifies negative consequences that informer-based policing policies are producing for individual officers, police forces and ultimately, the criminal justice system.

FBI Training Network. Informants. 1 videocassette (180 minutes); color; ½ in. National Law Enforcement Satellite Teleconference. 1989.Notes: (Available through the FBI Academy Library)Abstract: Development, use, management, legal considerations and judicial requirements, and problems in handling informants in law enforcement.

Goldberg, Carey. "Court Ruling Sets Guides on Use of Informers." The New York Times (New York), 16 September 1999, A, 4, 18.Notes: (Available full-text on Lexis-Nexis)Abstract: Claim rejected by an informer that he should receive blanket immunity from prosecution.

Hight, James E. "Avoiding the Informant Trap: A Blueprint for Control." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (November 1998): pp. 1-5.Abstract: Law enforcement agencies should develop uniform guidelines when using informant sources. The informants need to have an explicit understanding of what they may and may not do while working for agencies.

Holman, William D. "Prosecutor Advises Colleagues on Management of Informants." The Prosecutor (Fall 1989): pp. 21-28.Notes: (Available through Interlibrary Loan)Abstract: Because prosecutors must understand all the legal and practical ramifications presented by a case's informants, guidelines are presented for choosing and working with confidential informants.

This bibliography is a representative selection of materials either owned or on order by the FBI Academy Library. Inclusion of an item does not represent an endorsement by the FBI of the material or its author.

IACP National Law Enforcement Policy Center. "Criminal Informants." Model Policy (December 1989): 10 p.Abstract: The purpose of the policy is to provide regulations for the control and use of confidential informants. The accompanying Concepts and Issues Paper was designed to accompany the model policy and provides essential background material and supporting documentation to provide greater understanding of the developmental philosophy and implementation requirements for the model policy.

James, Robert. The Informant Files: The FBI's Most Valuable Snitch. Nevada: Electronic Media Publishing Company, Inc., 1994.Call Number: HV 8144 .F43J35Abstract: This true-crime adventure takes the reader behind the scenes into Hoffa's assassination and reveals intimate details involving his presidential pardon leading to Watergate and President Nixon's resignation. It provides readers with a history of the FBI, how informants are recruited and ongoing conflicts with law enforcement agencies.

Janzen, Sandra and Police Executive Research Forum. Asset Forfeiture: Informants and Undercover Investigations. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1990.Call Number: J 26.29:13Abstract: Informants and undercover investigations play critical roles in helping law enforcement agencies identify, seize, and forfeit such assets. This investigator's guide describes procedures for using informants and undercover operations, as well as investigative tools, in efforts to seize assets and thereby disable drug-trafficking enterprises.

Kansas City Police Department. "The WWW Confidential Informant." [http://kcpd.org/informant/index.htm]. 19 November 1999.Abstract: A web site at which private citizens can give information about violent crimes that have been reported to police but remain unsolved, major traffickers of controlled substances, or wanted/missing persons. The information is then forwarded to the proper jurisdictions.

Katell, Peter. "The Trouble With Informants." Newsweek (January 1995): p. 48(1).Abstract: Informants are an important part of law enforcement agencies' crime-fighting arsenal, but their use naturally incurs great risks. Typically criminals or junkies, they can set up police or innocent people as well as other criminals, or use their relative immunity to commit crimes themselves.

Lee, Gregory D. "Drug Informants: Motives, Methods, and Management." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (September 1993): pp. 10-15.Abstract: Law enforcement investigations of organized drug dealers almost always involve the use of confidential informants (CI's), and relationships between drug investigators and CI's frequently determine the success or failure of a drug enforcement program.

Luger, Jack. Snitch: A Handbook for Informers. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 1991.Call Number: HV 8080 .U5L84 1991Abstract: In this book, the author tells what information is valuable, how to gather it, and how to sell it. He shows how to snitch and collect completely anonymously. He details how crooks negotiate their way out of prison sentences, how cops treat informers, and how to keep from being finked-out.

Mehler, Gordon. "Informants, Rats, and Tattletales: Loyalty, Fear and the Constitution." Criminal Justice Ethics 16, no. 1(Winter 1997-Spring 1998): p. 2(3).Notes: (Available full-text on InfoTrac)Abstract: Law enforcement's reliance on informants is destructive to the social sense of loyalty and trust, however necessary it may be. The effect that informing has on personal loyalties and the risk of reprisal should be taken into consideration along with the seriousness of the crime and the reliability of the information. Informants are needed because many witnesses fail to volunteer information out of fear. Constitutional protections that limit the police's ability to obtain evidence provide additional reasons for the use of informants.

Mount, Harry A., Jr. "Criminal Informants: An Administrator's Dream or Nightmare." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (December 1990): pp. 12-16.Abstract: This article 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.

Neff, James. Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989.Call Number: HD 6509 .P74N44 1989Abstract: Cunning, crudely charismatic, the late Teamsters president Jackie Presser rose from a car thief to a White House dinner guest with the help of both the Mafia and the FBI. While indisputably taking orders from the Mob as he climbed the ranks of the nation's biggest, most mobbed up labor union, Jackie Presser secretly served as the FBI's top organized crime informant, code-named ALPRO. Scrupulously documented and dramatically told, Mobbed Up is the saga of the Presser family from the birth of labor racketeering in the Thirties to Watergate and into the Reagan White House.

Nugent, Hugh, et al. Managing Confidential Informants. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1991.Call Number: J 26.30:IN 6XAbstract: This monograph provides guidelines for law enforcement agencies to use in the management of confidential informants.

Soto, Javier. "Informant Operations." Law & Order (October 1998): pp. 93-100.Abstract: Police informants have always presented a double-edged sword. The right informant can speed up and make successful a failing police effort, but the wrong informant can result in failure, safety hazards and tragedy.

Training Key #404. Confidential Informants. Arlington, VA: International Association of Chiefs of Police, 1990.Abstract: Confidential informants can provide investigators with specific information that is simply not available from other sources. At the same time, informants are often criminals. They can render a law enforcement investigation useless, destroy an agency's credibility, and endanger officers' lives if not properly managed. For these and other reasons, the undercover operation, including the use of confidential informants, should be used only with proper controls.

Wexler, Sanford. "Bringing Down the Mob." Law Enforcement Technology (January 1998): pp. 42-45.Abstract: Enterprising surveillance techniques using sophisticated listening devices enabled the FBI to record conversations that produced the conviction of organized crime leader John Gotti and to plant listening devices inside the heavily guarded mansion of the late Paul Castellano, another organized crime leader. The successful efforts directed against these mob figures demonstrate the roles of the investigative techniques coupled with the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, stiff Federal sentencing guidelines, and a new willingness of informers to talk.

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