Payments to Police informants 613/23
FOI Reference: 613/2023
Request 1 - 2:
- How much money, in pounds sterling, has the force paid police informants – known as Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) – in the past three financial years? (Please could the figures be broken down year-by-year and be provided for 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21).
For each financial year please could the total amount paid to Covert Human Intelligence Sources be stated, as well as the number of Covert Human Intelligence Sources who received payment.
- What was the largest amount paid to an informant/ Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) by the force in each year? Please provide the amount of the largest payment to an informant each financial year.
Please note, the amount should include the total of all payments to the informant in one financial year – for example, if the same informant received several payments in the financial year, please could the total amount for those payments be provided.
Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2020/21 - £16,715
2021/22 - £8,395
2022/23 - £6,855
Response 2:
This Information is exempt by virtue of Section 30(2) Confidential Sources, Section 38(1) Health and Safety and Section 40(2) Personal Data.
Substantive s30(2):
Public Interest Test:
Factors favouring disclosure:
There is information within the public domain confirming that police use covert human intelligence sources to assist them with investigations and the effective delivery of law enforcement. Disclosure would enhance the public’s knowledge about how information relating to informants is used by Dyfed-Powys police and how the intelligence received assists in day to day investigations and operations to assist the prevention and detection of crime and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders. Disclosure would also assist in stopping any incorrect rumours or falsehoods relating to how the police store and manage how informants assist the police. It would also allow the public to determine whether the financial outlay by the force to informants is appropriate in comparison to the level of successful prosecutions.
Factors favouring non-disclosure:
Disclosure of the information requested could identify informant activity within a force area. Over a period of time if several disclosures were made, individuals could analyse the information and identify any sudden peaks or troughs in informant activity. This would hinder the prevention and detection of crime and also prejudice our ability to maintain confidential sources. Consequently, the force’s future law enforcement capabilities would be affected. Similarly, the disclosure of the information would highlight when informants have been used which could place those persons, or those suspected of being an informant, in danger. The disclosure of this information would lead to informants losing confidence in Dyfed-Powys Police and would impede the recruitment of informants in the future.
Substantive S38(1)
Harm
CHIS (regardless of their motivation) provide information at particular personal risk to themselves and their families. As previous cases have shown, where a CHIS is identified it can result in substantial physical harm, or mental trauma resulting from the threat of physical harm. This problem is particularly acute in cases relating to serious crime and terrorism where the threat against individuals is substantial.
The health and safety of any individual is a matter of significant concern and importance to Dyfed-Powys Police. Release of any information that could place an informant at risk of identification and thus risk of physical or mental harm is not suitable for disclosure.
Public Interest Test
Factors favouring disclosure:
Release of the information would promote openness and transparency of records held by Dyfed-Powys police.
Factors favouring non-disclosure:
The release of any information could lead to identification of any individual and consequently endanger the safety, potentially the life, of an individual.
Balancing Test
There is information within the public domain confirming that police use covert human intelligence sources to assist them with investigations and the effective delivery of law enforcement. The Police Service is tasked with protecting the community we serve and solving crime and there is a public interest argument in ensuring we are open and transparent with regard to policing investigations and operations. There is no doubt that for the issues outlined above any disclosure relating to sensitive informant information would jeopardise those important roles. Informants play a vital role in assisting the police, and is based very much on relationships built on trust and the expectation of complete confidentiality Dyfed-Powys police would never disclose information which would compromise our tactics or compromise the safety of an individual. It is therefore our opinion that the balance lies in favour of non-disclosure of the information.
Section 40(2) Personal Information:
The Section 40 exemption is a class-based exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned.
There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 08/03/2024)