Discussion 11 – Confidential Informants and Undercover Investigations

Discussion: In Chapter 11, Topics 2 and 3 we are looking at two types of investigative options – the Confidential Informant/Confidential Source (CI/CS) and the Undercover Officer. For this discussion compare what you believe are the benefits and potential drawbacks of each approach. For example, what are the motivations of the CI/CS? Do those motivations impact how much and what types of investigative steps they can assist in? What are the benefits and drawbacks to placing an officer in an undercover position? We often see these types of strategies on television and in books, but in the real world, what are the considerations that an investigator needs to take into account before employing one of these strategies?

Requirements:

• Your initial post should be a minimum of 250-280 words. 

 Course Resources
  Course readings imbedded into the course.
Brown, Thomas. (2019), “Criminal Investigation”. Virginia Wesleyan University. OERCommons. eBook.
Viewed from: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/criminal-investigation/view#
Lewandowski, Carla and Jeff Bumgarner. (2021) “Criminal Justice in America: The Encyclopedia of Crime,
Law Enforcement, Courts and Corrections”, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Volumes 1 and 2: Available
Online via EGCC Gale EBooks at: Gale eBooks,
link.gale.com/apps/pub/69TZ/GVRL?u=steu43952&sid=bookmark-GVRL
Accessed 14 June 2022.