Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
5.1 Criminal Investigations: Organization and Administration
5.1.8 Use of Informants (Revised: 8/1/14)
A. The use of informants will be coordinated through the Investigations Lieutenant.
Compensation of informants is prohibited by the UCSF Police Department. The
Investigations Lieutenant will maintain a master file of informants and individual
informant’s files securely in a locked filing cabinet. Each file will be coded accordingly
with an informant number (e.g., CI#1) to ensure confid entiality and filed numerically.
Each informant file will contain biographical and background information:
1. Name
2. Date of birth
3. Address
4. Contact number
5. Criminal history
6. Fingerprints
7. Photograph.
B. Prior to using an informant and to protect the identity of the information the
Investigations Lieutenant will complete the following steps:
1. Check CII (criminal history) driver history, fingerprint and photograph the
informant.
2. Check WSIN (Western States Information Network) to determi ne the reliability of
the informant.
3. Special Consent Form signed by the informant.
4. Confidential Questionnaire completed by the informant.
The Investigations Lieutenant will conduct periodic evaluations of the individual
informants and document findi ngs in each informant’s file.
C. The FSD Captain will review all informant files on a quarterly basis.
D. Precautions
1. Informant contacts will be made by at least two officers or one officer with a
covering officer, when possible and practical. A female informant should not be
contacted by a lone male officer unless a covering officer is within listening
distance.
E. Unreliable Informants
1. When an informant is found to be otherwise unreliable and, in the opinion of the
officer, shou ld not be utilized further as an informant, he/she will be deemed
“Unreliable.”
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
2. The officer will write a report stating the reasons why an informant should be
classified as unreliable. The informant’s CI number and file will be branded
“Unreliable” in r ed and dated.
3. Western States Information Network (WSIN) will be notified of the status.
F. Juvenile Informants
1. Juveniles will not be used as informants without the prior approval of the Chief of
Police.
2. A parent or guardian’s signed, written authorization shall be obtained prior to use
of the juvenile informant.
3. The parent or guardian shall be kept fully informed as to the use of the juvenile
informant.
4. Officers shall diligently strive to protect a juvenile informant from physical or
emotional harm and shall not allow the juvenile to be placed in possible danger.