DRUG INFORMANTS WALK TIGHT WIRE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Narcotics agents in Northwest Arkansas say they can't do
their jobs without confidential informants who help bring down drug dealers
in exchange for cash, judicial leniency or sometimes a tankful of gas. But
snitch work is risky for the informant.

Drug agents often find guns at the meth labs they seize in Northwest
Arkansas. Meth users "tweak" for hours as the drug's effects wear off,
experiencing spells of paranoid hallucinations compounded by lack of sleep
and food. Police say Tamara Blevins, 18, of Fayetteville was murdered last
month by two meth dealers and users who wrongly believed she was an informant.

Her body was found in Beaver Lake wrapped in a blanket, her hands bound.
Meth user John Mark McDole of Baxter County shot and killed Eileen Kelly
Keehn because he thought she was a police informant, a jury decided in 1998
when it found McDole, 40, guilty of first-degree murder. Police in Danville
say two men killed and decapitated Randy Reed, 19, of Rover last year
because they thought he was a snitch. Reed's headless and handless body was
found drifting in a Perry County river in July 1999. Charles Jester, 31, of
Harris Brake pleaded guilty to capital murder.

His stepson, Gregory Strother, 26, of Rover pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

NO TYPICAL SNITCH It's equally dicey for police and prosecutors to rely on
informants. Often they're drug addicts, criminals and unreliable. "It
sounds scary utilizing these people, many who are criminals themselves or
others who want some kind of revenge for personal reasons," said Kerry
Kotouc, the deputy prosecutor assigned to drug cases in Benton County.
"That's why we take strict precautions to ward off against any abuses that
could occur." Agents say it's easy to find informants to squeal about who's
selling drugs, introduce undercover officers into drug circles and make
drug buys wearing body microphones. "Cooperating individuals, we call them,
are really the life's blood of our investigations," said Steve Lowry,
special agent in charge of Fayetteville's federal Drug Enforcement
Administration office. "They have the integral knowledge of the people
we're investigating. They come from all walks of life. Some want money.

Others want revenge.

There's really no set profile." Most informants are charged with crimes and
hope their cooperation with police will bring prosecutorial leniency.

Others want the $20 to $180 they're paid for "hand-to-hand" drug buys.

MONEY FOR KNOWLEDGE Two drugs task forces covering Benton, Washington,
Madison and Carroll counties paid almost $15,000 to confidential informants
in 1999 and 2000. Fayetteville police Lt. Tim Helder said how much an
informant is paid depends on the amount and type of drug he buys and the
success of the undercover operation. "A lot depends on the current need at
the time," Helder said about operations of the 4th Judicial District Drug
Task Force in Washington and Madison counties. "Sometimes we need an
informant to introduce us to a dealer.

Sometimes a hand-to-hand buy is worth more." At times, agents will pay an
informant's overdue electric bill or fill up their tank with gas while
they're active in an investigation, Helder said. In Benton County, the
Rogers Police Department Narcotics Unit has about 30 active drug
informants. Many have worked intermittently over the years, using and
selling drugs before jumping the fence to resume the role of police
informant. Sometimes informants are callers who spill drug secrets about
ex-spouses or parents who are angry over a child's involvement with drugs.

ONE DAD'S STORY One Benton County father was fed up with a meth dealer
harassing his son over the teen's $50 drug debt. Call or come to my house
again, and I'll call the police, the father told the dealer. "Once I had
this dealer's name, I took it to the police," the father said. "They were
very interested." Since, the father has spent dozens of hours ingratiating
himself into a network of drug users and dealers in Benton County. He's
alerted agents to a major marijuana shipment and made hand-to-hand meth
buys. Kotouc said the father's work as an informant will result in several
arrests soon. The father said he's earned $150 for about 100 hours of work
as an informant. "I'm not doing it to get rich," he chuckles. "I'm a parent
who wants to see his son protected." The father doesn't want his son
faltering like he did. The father has been a drug addict. "Maybe if some of
these other parents would get involved and go to the police with names, we
could get more of these drug dealers off the streets," the father said.

INFORMANT'S CONTRACT Informants must sign contracts promising they won't
use drugs or break laws while they're active, Kotouc said. If the informant
breaks the contract, his work status is deactivated. Similar contracts are
required by the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force and the Drug
Enforcement Administration. Helder said drug agents independently verify
informant information before it's used to initiate a drug investigation or
to secure a search warrant. Informants are searched before and after they
conduct drug buys to ensure they don't "plant" or steal drugs, Kotouc said.
Evidence resulting from these drug buys is often used to obtain arrest
warrants. The possibility of an informant planting drugs is a real concern.

Agents said they've been offered cooperation from drug dealers who simply
want to eliminate the competition. "In reality, we don't have many
upstanding citizens coming to the police department with information about
major drug players," Kotouc said. "We can't send doctors or lawyers in as
informants to buy drugs from meth dealers.

It just doesn't work that way."

DANGEROUS GAME Agents said they don't hesitate to call off an undercover
operation if they suspect an informant is in danger.

Agents acknowledge retaliatory violence against informants but said it's
rare. Sgt. Mike Johnson, supervisor of the Rogers anti-drug unit, said
informants and agents share a changing code of words and signals that can
be used to quickly shut down a drug buy. Sometimes an undercover agent will
accompany an informant on the buy. Other times, agents watch and monitor
recording devices from nearby, Johnson said. "We don't push them to do
anything they're uncomfortable with," Johnson said. "There's a mutual
trust, a sort of kinship, that develops between an agent and his
informant." Helder said drug agents will wait to raid the site of a drug
deal until the informant is long gone. "We want to confuse the issue so the
dealer can't say, 'Ha! It was that guy.' " Helder said. While informants'
identities are omitted from police reports and court documents, a person
charged with a crime has the right to know the identity of his informer if
the case goes to trial. Most drug cases, however, end in plea bargains.
Kotouc said she's not apt to recommend charges be dropped against a drug
informant who has cooperated with police.

Rather, prosecutors will recommend probation or shorter sentences at a
regional punishment facility with a drug-rehab program or at a boot camp,
she said.