West Midlands Police spends £185,000 each year on informants

The force has forked out more than £1 million in the past six years to obtain sensitive information.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson backed the covert policing method, calling it an “essential tactic” in fighting the region’s “organised crime”.

“Policing the West Midlands is a difficult task that requires a variety of tactics,” Mr Jamieson told the Express & Star.

“We keep close oversight of this sensitive area and work closely with the force.

“This is an essential tactic in the fight against organised crime.”

In the past five years, since 2014, West Midlands Police has spent £925,801 on informants.

In comparison, Staffordshire Police spent £320,038 on informants during the same time period, although that police force is smaller than West Midlands Police.

Since 2013, over a six year period, West Midlands Police has spent a total of £1,108,953 on informants, according to a Freedom of Information request by the Express & Star.

The money is used to obtain sensitive information from people known as covert human intelligence sources [CHIS], who help with police investigations.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said the tactic may only be used as a last resort, when no other means of obtaining information can be made.

Due to the nature of their work, the identities of informants must be kept a strict secret, say police, otherwise their lives can be put in danger.

The spokesman said: “The authority to utilise a CHIS is constantly reviewed in the context of necessity and proportionality.

“The basis for this is when all other, less intrusive methods, have been used and considered and cannot be successfully used.

“Effectively, a view might be taken that the use of a CHIS is only taken when all other methods of conventional policing have been considered.

“No CHIS have escaped prosecution or conviction as a result of their status.

“Understandably, there is an absolute need for secrecy around the identities of CHIS or, wherever possible within legal constraints, anything which might lead to them being identified.

“Individual payments to CHIS are kept confidential due to the sensitivities around this information and the fact that inappropriate disclosure can lead to the identification of CHIS and the threat to their safety that could subsequently follow.”

The information given did not reveal a significant trend on informant spending, such as whether costs are largely going up or down per year.

On average in the past six years, West Midlands Police has spent almost £189,000 annually on informants. In the most recent year up to April, the figure was £182,955.