Dealing with confidential informants

What do principles, integrity, honesty, responsibility and CALEA have to do with confidential informants? Anything? Nothing?

Confidential informants (C.I.'s) are, at times, quite valuable to law enforcement agencies. Many good street cops and many detectives work to develop informants and to keep them on the string. It's probably just as well that the public doesn't know the whole story behind the use of CIs.

What are some of the rules for detectives (and other law enforcement officers) who use CIs?

One rule ought to be a specific, well-documented log of contacts, with dates, times, locations, purposes, information gathered, expenses incurred and appropriate and complete reports of contact.

Suppose a detective meets a C.I. and buys the C.I. a basic meal. Not a problem. Document it. Get a receipt. Report the expense. Write up a report. Don't take the C.I. to the Drake or the Palmer House. IHOP might be a good choice.

From time to time it might be necessary to meet the C.I. at "strange" hours. Probably not 9-5. Might have to be late at night. Document it. Take of official business, and part ways.

Kind of get an idea where this might be going?

If a detective is obtaining information from a C.I., sometimes it might have to be out of the public eye. Ex., it wouldn't be a good idea for a friend of the C.I. to wander by and smell a cop. I understand that some criminals have a fairly highly-developed sense of smell, when it comes to cops.

What might a detective do to compromise a relationship with a C.I.? Let's say, a male detective and a female C.I. What if the C.I. is ratting out some druggies? Any chance the C.I. is a drug user herself? Any chance? Maybe that should be, how great a chance? Or, to what extent?

Now let's say that a narcotics detective has a female C.I. and the relationship is not "strictly business." Any problem? You bet! What if a sexual component got into the equation?

And remember, up above, where I wrote "information gathered"? What if it was actually the case that information was exchanged, not just gathered? What if a detective actually passed information to the C.I.? Whoa, are we talkin' Chicago-style here? You mean, in McHenry County?

OK, so what is the top cop to do? Does he bring the forces of law-and-order to bear and initiate criminal action (well, I mean "legal" action) against the detective?

Wouldn't this be a matter that would result in extreme discipline and, if the agency had a merit commission, wouldn't the top cop hot-foot it right to his commission?

If the agency is accredited by CALEA, is there a big, thick book or manual on the shelf, in which the agency has written what it will do if such a matter arises? The CALEA Manual isn't there just to gather dust, is it?

Are there any law enforcement agencies in McHenry County faced with this dilemma right now?