The impact of COVID-19 on UK informant use and management

Abstract

The effect of COVID-19 on informant use and management, during the peak of the imposed Government lockdown measures was felt across English and Welsh police Dedicated Source Units. Within these restrictions, staff managing informants had to develop and then implement new strategies that delivered safe, yet effective, informant handling capacity and capability. Based on a survey of 205 respondents directly involved in the handling, control or authorisation of informants, this article examined their perceptions of the effect of COVID-19 in this highly specialised policing activity. The research findings revealed five broad themes associated with the impact of COVID-19 on informant management practices: (i) health protection; (ii) governance; (iii) innovation and technology; (iv) recruitment, communication and informant development and (v) tradecraft and intelligence. The article explored the organisational responses to initiating and maintaining informant-handler relationships and ensuring the flow of intelligence within this unique operational environment. Participants perceived that handler-informant relationships were strengthened, and also indications of a willingness to adapt policy and procedure associated with the informant management cycle: targeting, initial recruitment contact, assessment and evaluation, tasking and deployment and payment of informant rewards. It also highlighted a wider consensus that there was further scope for enhancing resilience to similar future pandemics including the use of enabling technology and responsive policy adaptation.

Inside the shadows: a survey of UK human source intelligence (HUMINT) practitioners, examining their considerations when handling a covert human intelligence source (CHIS)

“…Additionally, Nunan et al (2020a) observe that rapport, at least within the context of a relationship between informant and handler, could often be fluid and evolving but ought to be based on, "Managing their motivations and welfare" (Nunan et al, 2020a, p.3). Given the reported importance of welfare to rapport (Nunan, et al, 2020a;Stanier & Nunan, 2021), anything pertaining to the informants' wellbeing such as "mental health" or "physical wellbeing" were also included in this category. The importance of these two linked concepts (i.e., rapport and welfare) was demostrated by the fact that both words frequently occurred throughout the dataset.…”

The use of self-disclosure to build rapport with mock covert human intelligence sources (CHIS)

“…However, empirical research with mock CHIS is needed to better understand which rapport behaviours are the most effective in developing new sources, and maximising the intelligence yielded from them. Based on a survey of 205 officers working in CHIS management and handling, Stanier and Nunan (2021a) noted that the COVID-19 outbreak restrictions have caused a shift in CHIS-handler interactions, with many now taking place over the telephone. This shift in communication coupled with the economic and social uncertainty the pandemic brought, has also allowed sources to reconnect with persons of interest and gather/ pass on intelligence more systematically and succinctly (Stanier & Nunan, 2021a).…”

“…Based on a survey of 205 officers working in CHIS management and handling, Stanier and Nunan (2021a) noted that the COVID-19 outbreak restrictions have caused a shift in CHIS-handler interactions, with many now taking place over the telephone. This shift in communication coupled with the economic and social uncertainty the pandemic brought, has also allowed sources to reconnect with persons of interest and gather/ pass on intelligence more systematically and succinctly (Stanier & Nunan, 2021a). Some of the officers expressed hesitation to switch to phone recruitment due to staff shortages to process source referrals and assess sources' motivation and risk of operational deployment and due to the perception that this trial-and-error process could ruin 'months of hard surveillance work' (Stanier & Nunan, 2021a).…”

“…This shift in communication coupled with the economic and social uncertainty the pandemic brought, has also allowed sources to reconnect with persons of interest and gather/ pass on intelligence more systematically and succinctly (Stanier & Nunan, 2021a). Some of the officers expressed hesitation to switch to phone recruitment due to staff shortages to process source referrals and assess sources' motivation and risk of operational deployment and due to the perception that this trial-and-error process could ruin 'months of hard surveillance work' (Stanier & Nunan, 2021a). Nevertheless, it can be argued that the this reluctance lies in the lack of evidence-based rapport-building training for handlers, and, consequently, an inability to know which techniques to use in different contexts.…”

Identifying challenges to critical incident decision-making through a macro-, meso-, and micro- lens: A systematic synthesis and holistic narrative analysis

“…In a broader context, current challenges faced by emergency responders, such as the response to COVID-19 (Stevens, 2020 ; Ghaemmaghami et al, 2021 ; Newiss et al, 2021 ; Stanier and Nunan, 2021 ) and right wing and domestic terrorism (e.g., Smith and Barrett, 2019 ; Hayes, 2021 ), have continued to stretch operational capabilities beyond operational policy, practice, and procedure (House et al, 2014 ; Cohen-Hatton et al, 2015 ; Power and Alison, 2017 ; Alison et al, 2018 ). For example, key decision-makers in-situ of critical incidents have often struggled to commit to choice when presented with competing and often unreliable information (Power and Alison, 2017 ; Smith and Milne, 2018 ).…”