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Michael E. Grimes spent 28 years with the United States Department of Justice
in law enforcement. He began his career with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and continued as a Special Agent
when the organization became the Drug Enforcement Administration. He spent his entire career either working in the field as
an agent or supervising field agents. As a field agent and supervisor he dealt with hundreds of informants and saw most, if
not all, mistakes that can be made by law enforcement officers in dealing with informants. IN 1980, Agent Grimes began sharing
his observations with other law enforcement officers and has since lectured extensively to federal, state, and local police
officers and agents nationwide.
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| Click the photograph for more information on Guide for Developing and Controlling Informants. |
A GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING & CONTROLLING INFORMANTS
The use of informants
is vital to the success of the drug enforcement operations of any law enforcement agency. Rarely can a drug case be developed
without the services of informants at some stage of the investigation. This is why knowing the proper procedures for handling
informants is important for officers. The material in this manual was developed through the misfortune of many who have used
informants. Use of the manual will help maintain the integrity of the department, the controlling officer and the investigation.
Police departments that do not set-up and maintain a standardized system for the development and control of informants will
be subject to intense scrutiny and criticism by the courts and the community.
About
the Drug Enforcement Agency
The
tradition of federal drug law enforcement began in 1915 with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. In the following decades, several
federal agencies had drug law enforcement responsibilities. By the 1960s, the two agencies charged with drug law enforcement
were the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BDAC) and the federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN).
In
1968, with the introduction into Congress of Reorganization Plan No. 1, President Johnson proposed combining two agencies
into a third new drug enforcement agency. The action merged the Bureau of Narcotics, in the Treasury Department, which was
responsible for the control of marijuana and narcotics such as heroin, with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BDAC), in the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which was responsible for the control of dangerous drugs, including depressants,
stimulants, and hallucinogens, such as LSD. The new agency, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), was placed
under the Department of Justice, which is the government agency primarily concerned with federal law enforcement.
In
1973, President Richard Nixon declared "an all-out global war on the drug menace" and sent Reorganization Plan No. 2 to Congress.
"Right now," he pointed out, "the federal government is fighting the war on drug abuse under a distinct handicap, for its
efforts are those of a loosely confederated alliance facing a resourceful, elusive, worldwide enemy. Certainly, the cold-
blooded underworld networks that funnel narcotics from suppliers all over the world are no respecters of the bureaucratic
dividing lines that now complicate our anti-drug efforts."
When
John R. Bartels, Jr., was confirmed as the DEA's first Administrator on October 4, 1973, he had two goals for the new agency:
(1) to integrate narcotics agents and U.S. Customs agents into one effective force; and (2) to restore public confidence in
narcotics law enforcement.
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