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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
dont 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 dos and donts 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 dont 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 dont 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 doesnt 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? Im 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 doesnt 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 dont 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 dont 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.

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