Government Informants: The Real Story

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how the cops or other government officials get information that

can only be found “on the streets”? Here is a big one to consider: how much crime is the

government allowing to happen in order to catch a bigger crime being committed? Or what about

how people who are also involved in the same crime, sometimes heinous crimes, get time off or

don’t get punished completely? The answer is fairly simple: informants. Informants, or

commonly known in the workforce as CIs (criminal informants), are people (or person) who

provides privileged information about a specific person or agency. This privileged information

can include, but is not limited to, tips about crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, people

trafficking, corrupt cops, etc. Informants are not commonly talked about on the everyday news

channel, but there is a television show in particular that does a pretty good job at explaining

some basic do’s and don’ts of an informant. This show is called The Blacklist and it follows FBI

agents who get their intel from a notorious criminal himself, Raymond Reddington. Watching

this show has made me want to look into informants and the ways that the government agencies

really use them.

Throughout this paper I will researching the aspects informants and what government

officials gain when they use informants as well as the negative aspects they informant may

encounter. I will also be researching what the responsibilities of an informant are because while

watching The Blacklist, since it is a TV show, the viewers know that it is exaggerated and what I

would like to bring new to this topic is negative aspects of being a CI. Along with that I will also

be researching what crimes these informants get away with just the agencies can keep them as

they are. With my research, all of these things are either widely or vaguely mentioned in the all

of the different research that I have done thus far for this paper. Another element that I would be

adding to the topic is whether or not CIs are really necessary to catch and convict criminals. I

will also be researching the safety of the informants as I do my paper.

Literary Review

Though I may not be literally connected to this specific topic, I do have a special love for

The Blacklist and I am happy to analyze the show and apply it to how it is really happening in the

real world and the fact that we as a general public are oblivious to that fact. As a frequent viewer

of the show, since I started my research I have been able to pay more attention to Reddington

and his actual role as an informant to the FBI. Do I think that Reddington and The Blacklist have

truly influenced the actual use of government informants? No. But I do believe that the show has

opened doors for viewers to consider the real aspects of informants and the things they do for our

government agencies and I plan to try to reach every aspect of that help the agencies receive.

As said in previous paragraphs, as a nation we are oblivious to the fact that government

and other agencies do have to use other resources to find what they need when they are trying to

catch criminals. One of the main reasons that the government ends up using these informants is

because if they are trying to catch illegal activity, they know that they, as law enforcers, cannot

just walk in the place and demand to know what illegal activities were going on. Informants can

also be very useful when the defense attorney and other important players want to make a solid

conviction on the suspect(s). But here is a question to consider: how do you punish someone who

has put there life in danger for you, even if they have committed a crime as well?

Entering the Conversation

Informants may greatly help law enforcement, but the officials are also turning their back

when another crime is being committed by that same informant. For example, about a decade

ago, it was found that the FBI agency admitted that they allowed for James Bulger to operate a

brutal crime ring in order to catch a higher crime; to get information from about a Mafia (Health,

2013, para. 2). What Bulger did was illegal, just like the Mafia, but the FBI overlooking a crime

is also illegal. In The Blacklist we see Reddington getting away with a lot of illegal actions such

as blackmail, murder, money smuggling, and other law breaking things. The issue with the

informants and the crimes they commit is that sooner or later they decide that they are

‘privileged’ and deserve to be let off the hook when they help a cop and that can pose as a threat

to other criminals and what they feel their rights as criminals are.

Since this seems to be a prominent issue with government officials when it comes to

using CIs, I am proposing stricter circumstances in which informants actually get used. There are

other options to consider before allowing someone to commit other crimes just because they are

an informant, that other option being undercover agents or cops. I think that undercover agents

and/or cops are better to use, unlike the criminalist people that they inquire on to commit crimes

and put their life in danger, because these agents and officers took an oath to their state and

country to protect it from criminals, and not to allow criminals to keep breaking the law,

especially with their knowledge. These stricter circumstances would only be if the setting and the

criminals they were trying to catch and convict are is in an “intimate” setting. No, I do not mean

that in a sexual way when I say that. What I mean is the people (person) they are trying to catch

does not have an army of people behind him or a group that will do anything for that person. I

would recommend that it be only one person they are trying to catch and maybe one. I would

disregard criminals such as drug and sex traffickers, drug dealers, rapists, etc. These are the most

heinous criminals there are because no matter how many informants an agency uses, there will

always be one around the corner so I don’t feel there is a need to risk another crime happening or

another life being taken away because they were doing a favor for the government.

My addition to the conversation about government officials is something that I believe is

vital to this country because it can help save a lot of lives. With that being said, my addition to

the conversation would be to conduct a poll to verify that these “stricter circumstances” are as

strict as the reinforcers say they are. This poll will be taken using several other resources to look

upon the case that is being asked to use government informants and determine whether or not

lives need to be put at risk. It is basically a fresh pair of eyes all working on the case to determine

if there is another course of action that can be taken because as officers of the law, they are all

trained to decide ways to handle situations so that the casualties are not great,

In The Blacklist, we as the viewers definitely see Reddington getting away with the

crimes he and his associates commit, but we also see that multiple times throughout the show the

things he does goes back on the agents and they have to answer for his actions and how they

decided to let some crimes happen. This is just a TV show so of course they don’t want to get rid

of any of the main characters, but in the real world there are, and should be, stricter

consequences for agents who allows for other crimes to be committed during their time with

their CIs. I believe that my proposal to put a stop to this nonsense can help a lot of agencies to

understand the consequences of their actions when they allow for corruption to fill their cities

and country. I am not saying that this process will be easy. because change is never easy, but I do

believe that this is a change that needs to occur because if it doesn’t I fear that as a nation we

may have to relook the things we call illegal and the “exceptions” that we allow to happen.

If I had the opportunity to work with officers of the law, the issue of informants would be

bought to everyone's attention because in my heart I feel this is something that needs to be fixed

immediately. It is not only fair to law abiding citizens, but honestly it is not fair to the criminals

who have to serve the time for the crime they committed. If you were a criminal, how would you

feel knowing your equivalent committed the same crime as you, and more under police officials,

and did not get time for it? I’m not a criminal but I know the answer to that question. As a future

lawyer, I want to make this my side project: making sure informants do not get to become the

“privileged criminal”.

Conclusion

The bigger question posed to the government and other agencies is “How can be fix this

problem?” The reason this is a hard question to answer is because individuals do not have any

control over what agents do what and unfortunately cannot keep tabs on the hundreds and

thousands of police agents and FBI agents that they have. My paper discussed what other

alternatives can be used instead of government informants because this doesn’t seem to be a fair

or even safe way to catch criminals. I want everyone who reads this paper to think about

different ways to actually help our police and government agencies so they are not put in

situations that they have to lie and hide behind their superiors when they know they did

something wrong. My topic is also vital because what if our brother, sister, mom, dad, aunt,

uncle, or anybody important had to become a CI and they did something illegal and your family

has to be the ones who suffer from that? How would you react? Honestly, I don’t believe that

there would be anything that you could do.

Here is another question that I would like to pose: how can we retrain our officers of the

law using different tactics when it comes to situations like this? Do you believe that there is a

way to train our officers? I honestly don’t know if we can actually “retrain” our officers because

it is a fact that everyone will not follow the rules of the training and will continue to do whatever

they want just so they can make their case.

Works Cited

How The CIA Almost Lost A Key Informant. (2015, January 11). Retrieved October 22, 2015.

Use Of Confidential Informants Mostly Unregulated. (2012, September 5). Retrieved October 22, 2015.

Kuo, S. (2005). Informant Use. In Official Indiscretions: Considering Sex Bargains with Government Informants (pp. 1649-1651). Colombia.

Heath, B. (2013, August 4). Exclusive: FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes. Retrieved October 29, 2015.

Who Really Gets Stung? Some Issues Raised by the New Police Undercover Work. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Martin, R. (2015, March 29). For Undercover Agents, On-The-Job Adrenaline Can Be Addictive. Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Wright, K. (2015, October 8). Assignment One. Lecture, Charlotte.