Should I work as a Police Informant?

Generally, people work as an informant because he or she has been charged with a crime, and the informant will have their charge dropped or reduced. You will be used by the police in a variety of ways; typically: (1) to make controlled buys of drugs to then provide Probable Cause for a search warrant or (2) provide information regarding where and when police can find a quantity of drugs.

Your identity will likely be kept confidential in Court records; but that is not always the case. Unless your involvement in any cases is carefully managed, your identity may be revealed. This is known on the street as: “burning the snitch”.

Typically, the people you will be informing on are dangerous people; which, in turn leads to the old adage: “snitches get stitches”.

If you are considering working as police informant you need to consult with an experienced criminal defense attorney. You need to do all that you can to ensure you are not the ‘burnt snitch’ and evaluate the strength of the underling case to determine what exactly you should or should not agree to with the police.

You DO NOT want to be an informant unless you have no other alternative – an experienced criminal defense attorney can help you make that determination.