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Developing Confidential Informants - PI Magazine
by Robert Scott, P.I.
The right confidential informant can make or break an investigation – whether the case is a small staged accident or a homicide or other serious crime. Yet for most investigators, cases with an important confidential informant are relatively far and few between. When I heard that there was an LAPD detective who was giving presentations in law enforcement circles on the cultivation and utilization of confidential informants, I had to know more. Could techniques be developed which would allow an investigator to uncover more confidential informants?
Detective Robert A. Jakucs has been with the LAPD for 21 years, manning details in Robbery, Burglary, and Homicide, including the Richard Ramirez "Night Stalker" serial killer case. He’s also been a licensed PI since 1990 – a job he’ll be moving to on a full-time basis when he retires his police badge in August. I sat down on a recent Saturday morning with Det. Jakucs (pronounced Jacks) to find out more about what he had learned about confidential informants.
Robert Scott: Why is it so important for an investigator to develop confidential informants?
Det. Robert Jakucs: An investigator can spend thousands of man hours to try and make a case. With the right technique and the right words, the same information can be developed in ten minutes from a confidential informant to break a case wide open. My approach is designed to get this person to give the information to an investigator.
R.S.: You’ve identified several basic motivations that most informants will respond to. What are they?
R.J.: The main ones are fear, self-importance, retaliation or revenge, gossip, and financial motives.
R.S.: How does an investigator identify which of these motivating factors is going to work with any given potential informant?
R.J.: I’m a big proponent of trying to find out as much as you can about a potential informant beforehand. If you know that the person is in an economic plight, there’s something you can hang on them. This tells you that this particular informant may be susceptible to a financial motive.
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