Why are informants necessary to effectively combat organized crime Essay

Why are informants necessary to effectively combat organized crime - Essay Example To gain this information, designated authorities have recourse to tried and tested methods. These methods include physical and technological surveillance, infiltration of the organization by undercover agents, and last, but not the least, the use of informants. Informants used against organized crime are usually members of these criminal organizations, who decide to talk to the authorities for a variety of personal and financial reasons. Critics have often criticized the use of informants: it is believed that most informants are unreliable because they work for selfish motives, either to gain revenge on their parent organization, or in search of incentives like money and exemption from charges and punishment. Since the whole process of using informants is confidential, critics fear the abuse of the system, whereby criminals go scot free despite heinous activities because of their cooperation with the authorities in netting criminal organizations. According to critics, informants tend to blur the lines between what is lawful and what is not. But despite these objections, there are reasons why authorities continue to use intelligence from informants, and we will now discuss why despite having other options like technical and physical surveillance and undercover operations, police and other authorities continue to use informants. Technological and physical surveillance is often unable to capture the entirety of the organization, as the members use coded communication. Moroever to initially establish surveillance especially in a suspects private space, the authorities must be able to obtain proof of criminal activity in the form of advance reliable intelligence. This is where the informants come in handy, because a reliable informer is able to provide a translation for the inner codes of a criminal organization, as well as supply tangible proof against a organized crime suspect to be brought under surveillance.