While confidential informants (CI¿s) can play a crucial role in police investigations they
also have the potential to cause great harm if they are dishonest. The process by which police
agencies qualify a CI to work and the strength of agency policy may be the source of the
problem. This Brief examines the integrity problem involving CIs in police operations within
the United States provides an overview of pitfalls and problems related to veracity and
informant integrity including the difficulties in detecting when a CI is lying and compares
the provisions of actual published police policy to the model CI policy published by the
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The analysis shows a wide divergence
between actual police policy and the national standard promulgated by the IACP. The Brief
provides policy recommendations for improving use of CIs that can potentially reduce or
eliminate integrity problems that can lead to organizational accidents such as wrongful arrests
and convictions injuries or deaths. Some Courts have issued measures to ensure that
information received from CIs is reliable by examining sworn testimony and documents related to
their work. However as this Brief explores this judicial effort arises only after a police
operation has taken place and the use of force ¿ even deadly force¿has already been employed.
The author proposes integrity testing beforehand which would allow police to have a greater
understanding of a CI¿s motivation ability and veracity when conducting law enforcement
operations. In addition there are aspects of police policy that can enhance CI management such
as training supervision and entrapment that can further guard against integrity problems.
Although integrity testing is not flawless it does interpose an additional step in the CI
management process that can help guard against wrongful conviction and perjury that harms the
judicial process.
