You wouldn't handle a police shooting case without first knowing an agency's use of force policy. Yet defense attorneys throughout the country fail to recognize that similar policies have been established for the handling of informants. Having those policies and procedures at your disposal are invaluable as you prepare your trial strategy.

Federal Agency Informant Manuals

Knowing how a federal agency is supposed to operate its informants can be of value, either in case preparation or when you and your client are deciding whether to cooperate with the government. Fitzgerald can provide you with the informant manuals for U.S. Customs, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF).

Sting and Reverse Undercover Operation

Search Warrant and Raid Procedures

Client Debriefing: Crossing the Cooperation Threshold

When cooperating with the government is your only option, how you present the information your client has to offer to the government is essential. Your client's freedom may be directly tied to the value of the information he is willing to exchange for his freedom or a downward departure in his sentence.

Fitzgerald or one of his associates can assist you in conducting a full debriefing of your client just like the one he can expect when he begins to cooperate. After all, only a former agent knows what the case agent wants to hear.

In lieu of a face-to-face debriefing, Fitzgerald can supply you with the same Source Debriefing Guide used by agents and intelligence analysts. Getting the most out of what your client knows is directly tied to how favorable a deal you strike with the prosecutor.

Witness Protection

Cooperating with the government can be life threatening. That is why the U.S. Marshals Service Witness Security Program is expanding every year as more defendants chose to cooperate with the government.

Dennis Fitzgerald is one of the few non-U.S. Marshals to have attended USMS Witness Security Training. He can advise you on how your client can gain admittance to a program that is secretive and extremely difficult to qualify for. He can provide you with the same Threat Assessment and Risk Assessment forms used by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Enforcement Operations (OEO). He can also provide you with a copy of his booklet, A Practical Guide to Witness Protection. It will explain in detail exactly what the client can expect from the time he requests witness protection through the change of identity and relocation process.

Learn the rules for handling informants and beat the government at its own game.

Read Informants and Undercover Investigations: A Practical Guide to Law, Policy, and Procedure (CRC Press, 2007) before you plead your client guilty. It includes:

• Rules for controlling informants
• Informants and search warrants: Eight steps police should follow
• Procedures for controlled informant buys
• How information must be corroborated
• Cooperation and plea agreements: Getting full value for your client's information
• Inside the Witness Security Program. Is the program something your client should consider?
• Instant access to federal agency informant manuals

View the front and back of the book jacket.
(Very large 2.87MB .pdf. We suggest you right click and save it to your hard drive,
rather than just clicking it open in your browser.)

Available at CRCPress.com and Amazon.com.

A new book, Reward: Inside America's Billion Dollar Informant Network, will be released in 2008.

Contact:
Dennis Fitzgerald
fitzgerald@substantialassistance.com

Informant Law Case Assistance | Law Enforcement Agency Procedures
Our Experience with Informant Law | Informant Law Links | Contact
Home

Disclaimer: Use of uncopyrighted agency logos does not imply agency approval of services rendered.

© 2004 Dennis Fitzgerald
Web site by Sandy Hershelman Designs