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Questions and Answers
What is the primary objective of informant development and utilization in law enforcement?
What is the main difference between informants, victims, and witnesses?
According to the maxim, what is an investigator only as good as?
What is the primary benefit of informant cooperation in a community?
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What is the significance of understanding informant motives?
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What is the total time allocated for the informant use lesson plan?
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What is the primary purpose of using informants in law enforcement?
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What is the term for an informant who provides confidential information but wants to remain anonymous?
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Which of the following is a motive for an informant to cooperate with an investigation?
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What is the most common use of informants according to the text?
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What is the term for an informant who wants to right a past wrong?
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How many arrests were made possible by a single informant in the San Francisco area?
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What is the total value of money and property recovered due to informants, according to the FBI?
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What is the term for an informant who is motivated by a desire for personal gain?
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Which group of people were defendants in a famous trial that relied on informants?
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What is the primary characteristic of a successful investigator when working with informants?
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What is the primary reason informants are used in law enforcement?
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In what scenario would an informant be used to enter upon public or private premises?
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What is one way to avoid entrapment when working with an informant?
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What should be done with each transaction and incident involving an informant?
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Why should an officer have an intelligent, objective and professional outlook and attitude toward informants?
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What is the purpose of an informant identification system?
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Why should an officer follow their department's procedures when working with informants?
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What can be a challenge when working with informants?
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Why should an officer evaluate each person they encounter as a potential informant?
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What should an officer avoid when working with an informant?
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Study Notes
Importance of Informants in Law Enforcement
- Informants are crucial in law enforcement as they provide valuable information to investigators.
- The cooperation of individuals who can furnish accurate information to law enforcement agencies is indispensable to effective law enforcement in a community.
Types of Informants
- There are two categories of informants:
- Informant: Gives the investigator information and may do so openly or offer to stand as a witness, or ask to remain anonymous.
- Confidential Informant: Provides confidential information concerning past or projected crimes but does not want to be known as the source of the information.
Motives of Informants
- Informants' motives can determine the value and/or reliability of the information.
- Common motives include:
- Vanity: Wants attention
- Civic Mindedness: Public-spirited committee member who wants to see justice done
- Fear: Person is under the illusion of oppression or impending danger
- Repentance: Wants to right a wrong to clear their conscience
- Avoidance of Punishment: Seeks to avoid punishment for another crime
- Gratitude or Gain: Wants to express gratitude or obtain a privilege
- Competition: Wants to eliminate competition
- Revenge: Wants to settle a grudge
- Jealousy: Wants to ruin someone
- Remuneration: Informs for money
Uses of Informants
- Four major uses of informants:
- To make controlled buys of illegal items
- To acquire information to establish probable cause and a search warrant
- To provide officer entry into an illegal operation
- To obtain information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain
Guidelines for Officer-Informant Relationship
- Develop your own informants by evaluating each person you encounter.
- Consider persons working jobs with specific vantage points (e.g., bartenders, cabbies, waiters, janitors, mail carriers).
- Take precautions to avoid entrapment or the appearance of entrapment.
- Document each transaction and incident where the informant's actions are proven correct.
- Have an intelligent, objective, and professional outlook and attitude toward informants.
- Use an informant identification system with a numbering system to protect the informant's identity.
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Description
Learn about the importance of informant development and utilization in law enforcement, including the characteristics and uses of different types of informants. Identify the role of informants in criminal investigations and their classification.
