The high price of police informers

The high price of police informers

They are expensive, risky and can encourage corruption, but we have little choice but to rely on police informers

In the good old days of a "force within a force", when corruption was rife in the Met police, paid informers were just part of the scene. They helped "solve" crimes and were an excuse for a great deal of drinking on the job by detectives to "consult a source". Ethical issues abounded, especially in regard to informers who took part in serious bank jobs that were often allowed to happen, so "a pavement job" could take place – an arrest on the pavement by coppers alerted to the crime. That some ended up sharing the spoils, and/or letting the crime happen uninterrupted was all part of the game. One detective wryly told me at the time that "we were all bent – one third took money, one third did favours, and the rest of us knew what was happening but looked the other way".

Police informant payouts top £6m

UK police forces paid more than £6m in the past financial year to people with information on criminal activity, BBC Radio 5 live has discovered...most informers earned between £50 and £2,000 for information - though a select few had been paid more than £100,000 a year, for vital intelligence.

UPDATE:

Informant cash details withheld

"HUMBERSIDE Police have refused to provide the Mail with details of how much money they have paid out to informants.

We asked the force to give us details about how much money they had paid for information after the BBC revealed more than £6m had been spent nationally in the last financial year.

Matthew Wright, a spokesman for Humberside Police, told the Mail: "We are not going to just release the information to everyone now because it's out on a national level,"

Mr Wright told the Mail the force had guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and would provide a statement later today".

Comment: Why is Humberside Police being guided by a private company (ACPO)?