Syracuse, New York, Police

Syracuse, New York

Police Department

General Rules and Procedures Manual

Volume I-17.00 Policy

Use of Informants

The purpose of this policy is to establish policies and procedures governing the use of informants by sworn officers of the Syracuse Police Department.

Confidential and reliable informants are an effective tool in investigations. It is the policy of the Syracuse Police Department to limit the use of informants to cases of criminal conduct or conduct that is a threat to the community, to insure the anonymity and confidentiality of informants, provide for the security of informant records, and accountability of funds used.

Officers using confidential informants must be aware that investigations can be compromised or undermined by the misconduct of the informant. It is therefore necessary to cautiously deal with individuals whose reliability and motivation may be questionable.

17.10 DEFINITIONS:

Informant -- A non-law enforcement person who, by reason of his familiarity or close association with criminals, supplies regular or constant information about criminal activities to a police officer.

17.11 PROCEDURE:

17.12 FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN USING INFORMANTS:

When anticipating the use of informants to further an investigation, officers shall consider the following factors:

Informants may only be used in the investigation of criminal conduct or in cases involving a threat to the community.

Risks involved in utilizing an informant.
Nature or seriousness of the crime.
Character and motivation of the informant.
Ability of the police to control the informant.
Potential value of information.

17.13 INFORMANTS:

Informants must be advised and have a complete understanding of the following:
They are not employees of the Syracuse Police Department.
They cannot act as police officers.
Informants are not authorized to participate in violence.
They cannot use unlawful techniques to gain information as the courts may consider the informant an agent of the police.
Informants must not self-initiate plans to commit crimes nor solicit persons to act in an illegal manner.

17.14 RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF INFORMANTS:

The following types of informants require supervisory approval.

Persons under 18 years of age. The utilization of such a person must be approved in the form of a written waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian.

Officers shall not cultivate or utilize juveniles under 16 years of age as an informant, without the prior approval of a supervisor. Such a person must be approved in the form of a written waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian.

Persons who are defendants in a pending state or federal prosecution.

Persons who in the past have been unreliable.

Persons on parole or probation who act as informants without the knowledge of the parole or probation officer.

Officers dealing with an informant of an opposite sex may make special considerations. Meetings with such an informant must be conducted with the knowledge of a supervisor.

All informants will be treated as confidential sources and disclosure of true identity will be avoided whenever possible. There needs to be a complete understanding between the detective and the Assistant District Attorney prior to any judicial proceeding as to the question of disclosing an informant's identity, which would allow prosecution without disclosure.

It is obvious that the disclosure of an informants identity would jeopardize our ability to obtain and use future confidential sources. Utmost in our consideration is the personal safety of the confidential informant. It may be necessary to have a case dismissed rather that divulge a source's true name/identity. The decision to disclose will be made by the detective in consultation with the Detectives Division Commander along with the prosecuting attorney.

Controlled Buys.

Informants shall be searched for pertinent contraband prior to and at the completion of any controlled buy. This situation requires the physical presence of two detectives, one of whom is of the same sex as the source.

17.15 INFORMANT REGISTRATION AND EXPENDITURE RECORDS:

Police Officers should cultivate and utilize informants to further an investigation as part of their normal duties. Confidential Informants developed and used by officers must be registered with the department.

Officers must not confuse citizens who occasionally provide information and other routine sources with confidential informants. Routine sources of information are not defined as informants and need not be registered.

The department maintains two informant registries. Officers are required to register an informant with either register depending upon the type and nature of the information being provided, as follows:

Informants providing information pertaining to Narcotics, Vice and Organized Crime shall be registered with the Special Investigations Division.

Informants providing information pertaining to Civil Disorder, Terrorism or other criminal activity such as Murder, Rape, Robbery, Burglary, Larceny, etc. shall be registered with the Criminal Investigations Division.

When registering an informant, Officers shall create an individual informant file record (form 24.08) to include:

Name of the officer registering the informant.

Informant code name and/or F number.

Informant personal information:

Name

Aliases

Date of birth

Address

Telephone

Employer

Identifying features such as height, weight, hair color, eye color, race, sex, scars, marks or tattoos, or other distinguishing marks.

Marital status

Vehicle(s) and registration numbers.

Places frequented.

Photograph of informant.

Criminal history reports.

Informant Liability Waiver (form 24.06) signed by the Informant.

Copies of information/evidence purchase receipt (form 24.07) including NF, VF, IF or GF number, amount of payment, date & time and signature of the informant, signature of officer making the payment and of the officer witnessing the payment.

A division command office or a supervisor responsible for maintaining the Informant file and budgeted monies shall approve all payments.

Other reports or correspondence pertaining to the informant such as a declaration of satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance by the informant.

The informant file shall be approved by the supervisor responsible for the management of informant file information or the allocation of confidential funds, prior to the disbursement of any funds.

17.16 INFORMANT FILE MANAGEMENT:

It is the responsibility of commanding officer of the Criminal Investigation and Special Investigation Divisions to maintain informant files. The Command Officer of each Division shall assign the responsibility of informant file management to a supervisor within their respective division.

The supervisor shall provide for the proper management of informant file information

and confidential funds and ensure that informant files are kept secure in a locked file cabinet or password secured computer database. Monies allocated for the purchase of information or evidence shall be managed by the supervisor pursuant to the departments policy Audit and Budget Control (i.e. cash funds).

Files shall be organized and maintained in order to:

Provide a source of background information about the informant.

Provide a complete history of the information received from the informant.

Enable review and evaluation of information given by the informant.

Minimize incidents that could be used to question the integrity of Officers.

Monitor the reliability of the informant and identify those who have proven to be unreliable.

Access to informant files shall be limited to the Chief of police, Deputy Chiefs, Command Officers of the Criminal and Special Investigation Divisions, and the supervisor and detective responsible for managing the informant.

Sworn personnel may review an informant file with the approval of the file supervisor or Command Officer of the respective Division.

Information from an informant file may not be disseminated without the approval of the Command Officer of CID or SID.

All disclosure of informant files must be recorded in the respective file that will include the following:

Date and time of inquiry.

Requesting agency.

Reason.

Source of information conveyed.

Method of dissemination.

Date of return, if applicable.

17.17 CONFIDENTIAL FUND BUDGET:

Confidential funds are monies allocated to purchase information or evidence.

These funds are only used when expenditure is warranted by the merits/importance of a particular investigation. It is reasonable and necessary to ensure that the controls over disbursements of confidential funds are adequate to safeguard against misuse of such funds.

Officers allocated confidential fund money shall maintain a ledger of monies, received and expended.

Officers shall maintain a record of the starting balance, date, amount received, amount paid, purpose, case or DR# and ending balance, on either a departmentally approved form (SID form 24.09), or on form 10.1.

Officers are required to submit balance ledger form(s) periodically, as directed by the confidential fund supervisor.

Division Command Officers shall include in their annual budget request (submitted at or around October 15th) the desired allocation of confidential funds for Use of informants, pursuant to departmental policy Audit and Budget Control of the rules and regulations.

Division Commanders shall be responsible for management oversight of confidential funds; dispersing of payments, and records associated with the fund.

Division Commanders shall conduct, or cause to be conducted, an annual audit of the confidential fund and submitting a report of expenditures to the Chief of Police.

Confidential fund records shall include:

Confidential Fund Expenditure Ledger -- This ledger should contain entries indicating funds expended to date, funds available, and for each expenditure an individual reference number, date, name of the requesting officer, reason, amount, nature of any material purchased, name of the person receiving the payment and subsequent law enforcement action taken.

Request for Funds File -- This file should contain the original copy of the investigating officer's request for confidential funds to include:

Case number for which funds are requested.

Name of the person who is to receive the funds.

Amount requested.

Date of the request.

Justification statement for the expenditure.

Requesting officer's name, IBM number and signature.

Receipt File - This file should contain the original copies of receipts for payment signed by the officer receiving the disbursement.

Syracuse Police Department

511 South State Street

Syracuse, NY 13202