For the second time, CEPOL and Europol organized together an activity for the informant community: the Informant Controller Course held on 23-26 October 2012 at Bramshill.
Nine trainers from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom delivered a professional-to-professional activity for 43 participants from 22 EU Members States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland. All trainers were practitioners from the informant area.
The main topics were:
· European manual on common criteria and principles of informant handling
· French experience in developing CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Source)
· Tasks and responsibilities of a controller
· Rewards and payment
· Upper world informants
· Lawful participation of an informant in crimes
· Serious crime intelligence in France
Europol colleague added the information on Europol`s mandate on CHIS and newly created Europol Platform for Experts on Informants which offers the possibilities for sharing of information and for communication among experts form this community.
Participants did a lot of group work and exercises aiming at emotional, rational and contracted trust. A part of it was a simulation of creation of Memorandum of Understanding between two countries sharing an informant.
On the first day, the course was officially opened by Detlef Schröder, CEPOL Deputy Director who thanked the trainers for their willingness to share their knowledge and wished participants a fruitful learning experience. There were many questions addressed to the speakers; a few highlights describing the atmosphere could be:
· Informant does not belong to the informant handler, but to law enforcement
· Informant may not be encouraged to committing crimes and is not allowed to commit crimes
· Informant must be under control and properly briefed
· Informant form specific environment requires specific handling
A course for informant community is scheduled also for 2013, again, as a joint CEPOL/Europol activity.
Nine trainers from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom delivered a professional-to-professional activity for 43 participants from 22 EU Members States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland. All trainers were practitioners from the informant area.
The main topics were:
· European manual on common criteria and principles of informant handling
· French experience in developing CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Source)
· Tasks and responsibilities of a controller
· Rewards and payment
· Upper world informants
· Lawful participation of an informant in crimes
· Serious crime intelligence in France
Europol colleague added the information on Europol`s mandate on CHIS and newly created Europol Platform for Experts on Informants which offers the possibilities for sharing of information and for communication among experts form this community.
Participants did a lot of group work and exercises aiming at emotional, rational and contracted trust. A part of it was a simulation of creation of Memorandum of Understanding between two countries sharing an informant.
On the first day, the course was officially opened by Detlef Schröder, CEPOL Deputy Director who thanked the trainers for their willingness to share their knowledge and wished participants a fruitful learning experience. There were many questions addressed to the speakers; a few highlights describing the atmosphere could be:
· Informant does not belong to the informant handler, but to law enforcement
· Informant may not be encouraged to committing crimes and is not allowed to commit crimes
· Informant must be under control and properly briefed
· Informant form specific environment requires specific handling
A course for informant community is scheduled also for 2013, again, as a joint CEPOL/Europol activity.
