The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Police Department
General Order 3-1.6 Informant Policies and Confidential Fund Procedures
  1. Informant Security

    The purpose of this policy is to establish procedures for using informants, maintaining a master informant file, and ensuring confidentiality for informants. The files will be kept in a secured location in the Support Services Commander's office. To ensure the confidentiality of these files, the Support Services Commander will maintain very limited access and files will only be accessed with the expressed permission of the Chief of Police or the Support Services Commander. The priority in the department's operational decisions and actions regarding the use of informants is to preserve the safety of the confidential informant/courses, law enforcement personnel, the target, and the public. The informant/source must be advised of conditions, restrictions and procedures associated with participating in activities. 
  2. Confidential Informant Files

    An informant is any person (other than a law enforcement officer, complainant, known witness to a crime, or victim of a crime) who, after signing an "Informant Agreement," provides information to an officer of the UNCG Police Department that is used by any law enforcement officer either:
    1. In a search warrant application to establish probable cause to search,
    2. In recording the activities of a person or persons reasonably suspected of criminal activity, or
    3. In identifying a person as a criminal suspect for further investigation.
    3. A transaction is when an informant provides significant information to an officer of the UNCG Police Department, whether or not the informant is paid or receives consideration for the information. Significant information is information which an officer can act upon. If in doubt as to whether or not a contact with an informant is a transaction, the officer should treat the contact as a transaction and report it accordingly.

    Each confidential informant file will contain the following information:
    1. A uniquely assigned number for each informant (used in all reports and correspondence to identify the informant)
    2. Full Name
    3. Home and work address and phone number
    4. A physical description and/or photograph
    5. Vehicle types and descriptions
    6. Related report numbers if any
    7. Date of initial contact
    8. Detailed record of all activity involved with the department as well as the information provided and its reliability
    9. Background information, including how the informant was recruited, his reasons for cooperating with law enforcement, past criminal record (if any), and other agencies for which they have acted as an informant, if known.
    10. Signed Parent/Guardian Consent form (when applicable)
    11. Informant Agreement
    12. Other information as deemed necessary or appropriate by the Support Services Commander.
  3. Rules for Informant Use

    Officers will abide by the following rules when dealing with informants.
    • Maintain accurate records of informant contacts
    • Conduct meetings with the knowledge and approval of the Support Services Commander.
    • Carefully select the location of meetings. No officer will meet the informant at his own residence or the residence of any department member. Meetings with the informant at departmental facilities are strongly discouraged.
    • Keep contacts on a business level. Do not have meetings with informants while off duty that may be viewed as "socializing."
    • Whenever possible, officers will meet with informants of the opposite sex in a public place and accompanied by another officer. This also applies to those informants whose sexual preferences may make an investigation more susceptible to allegations of impropriety.
    • Attempt to verify all information provided by the informant and document it in the informant files.
    Information concerning informants will be shared with the Support Services Commander by using the Intelligence Report Form as described in the "Criminal Intelligence Collection" section of this policy manual.
  4. Use of Juveniles as Informants

    No person under the age of eighteen will be used as an informant without the approval of the Chief of Police and the approval of the juvenile's parents or legal guardians. A signed consent of the juvenile's parents or guardian must be completed before any juvenile will be used as an informant.
  5. Informant Use by Patrol Officers

    Patrol Officers are encouraged to develop informant sources. However, the Support Services Commander must approve all informants and the rules of this general order must be followed.
  6. Confidential Informant Funds

    It is the policy of the UNCG Police Department to maintain stringent control over all confidential fund monies used by the department and to ensure that the funds are used only for authorized purposes.
    • Confidential Fund – The UNCG Police Department maintains a fund for making cash payments to informants who provide useful information in criminal investigations conducted by the department. Only the Support Services Commander will have access to the fund.
    • Confidential Fund Custodian – The Support Services Commander will be responsible for dispensing and monitoring the use of investigative funds by officers.
  7. Authorization of Payment

    Only the Support Services Commander may authorize payments to informants. Prior to the issuance of any money from the confidential fund, an officer will complete a written intelligence report detailing the purpose of the requested funds. The confidential fund custodian will require the requesting officer to sign a receipt acknowledging that funds requested were received.
  8. Record of Payments

    A written intelligence report accounting for all monies withdrawn from the fund will be maintained by the Support Services Commander and will include:
    • Item or informant control number on which the monies were expended
    • Date and place of the expenditure
    • Copies of receipts
    • Type of investigation
    • Case number, where applicable
    All supporting documents and receipts from the confidential fund will be submitted to the department's Business Officer for processing. Copies will be retained with the intelligence report.
  9. Money Returned to Fund

    For all funds expended, the officer issuing payment will ensure that an appropriate receipt is obtained, unless such an action would jeopardize a transaction or operation. The officer will return all unexpended funds to the confidential fund custodian as soon as practical. The fund custodian will issue the officer a receipt acknowledging that such funds were re-deposited as unexpended. Each officer may maintain a personal file containing a record of all confidential fund transactions, and copies of all relevant receipts.
  10. Confidential Fund Expenditures

    The purpose of this directive is to establish procedures and guidelines for purchasing illegal drugs and paying informants. The Support Services Commander is responsible for authorizing the expenditures for the Vice/Narcotics detectives and officers of the UNCG Police Department.

    Support Services is limited to a maximum of $1,000.00 cash to be kept on hand at any given time, which is kept in a secured location within the commander's office.

    Vice/Narcotics detectives are authorized to spend money from the confidential fund for routine investigations with the following limits:
    1. $300.00 for any one-time purchase
    2. $100.00 for expenditure for informant's fees.
    11. Disbursements for purchases or paying informants in excess of these amounts must be approved by the Support Services Commander. The Chief of Police must approve any one-time disbursement of $1,000 or more.

    Officers will report all expenditures of confidential funds within 24 hours by submitting the appropriate report to the Support Services Commander.
  11. Accountability of Confidential Funds

    Accounts Payable will send a check made payable to the Support Services Commander for replacement funds when necessary. They are responsible for recording and disbursing the funds according to the following procedures.
    1. The Support Services Commander will record the face amount of the check and add it to the Vice/Narcotics Narc-Pak Confidential Funds module. The supervisor is responsible for cashing the check and maintaining the financial ledger.
    2. The Support Services Commander will issue funds to each officer as needed for operational expenses. They will record this transfer of funds on a Special Funds Expenditure Report (SFER) on the administrative transfer portion. The supervisor will maintain all original SFERs in a secured location.
    3. All payments which require prior approval from the Support Services Commander must be approved in writing in the appropriate section of the SFER.
    4. When the Support Services Commander must be out of town for an extended period of time, sufficient funds will be issued to the Vice/Narcotics detective prior to leaving. The supervisor will record this transaction on the SFER in the administrative transfer portion.
  12. Accountability for SFERs and Check by Business Officer

    When additional Vice/Narcotics funds are needed, the Support Services Commander will make a duplicate copy of all SFERs, print a copy of the financial ledger, and deliver them to the Business Officer for the requisition of funds which have been expended.

    When the Business Officer receives a check from Accounts Payable, the check will be forwarded to the Support Services Commander to be cashed.
  13. Accountability for Funds by Detectives

    The Support Services Commander and detective will record and sign for each transfer of funds on the SFER in the administrative transfer portion.

    The Support Services Commander will record Vice/Narcotics expenditures on the SFER in one (or more) of the following sections, as well as the Special Funds Monthly Report.
    1. Source Fee/Source Expenses – for information relating to Vice/Narcotics cases; Confidential Source.
    2. Controlled Purchase by Source – for an observed and controlled purchase of illicit items by a source.
    3. Undercover Purchase by Officer – for the purchase of illicit items by a Vice/Narcotics detective.
    4. Officer Expenses – for Vice/Narcotics detective's expenses such as cover charges for bars and lounges; general operating expenses, etc.
    14. When an detective needs more than his allotted operating expenses on a given assignment, they must request the additional amount from the Support Services Commander. The commander will show the amount transferred on a SFER/Administrative Transfer portion. If the detective does not use all of the additional funds, they will return the unused amount, along with an SFER, to the supervisor who will return it to the confidential fund.
  14. Quarterly Audit by Commander

    The Support Services Commander will reconcile the Vice/Narcotics Confidential Fund each quarter.