ST. PETERSBURG POLICE TO RE-EVALUATE POLICY ON CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS

ST. PETERSBURG - They give police the location of a drug buy, a lead
on a witness, the name of a killer.

In exchange, confidential informants get cash or a good word put in
with a judge to help reduce a criminal sentence.

'Informants are incredibly necessary to solve crime,' said retired
Pasco County sheriff's Lt. Bobby Sullivan, a former vice commander.
'Nobody knows crime like the criminal, but you have to keep in mind
that they are a criminal.

'They are on the other side.' The distinction was blurred this week
when the FBI arrested St. Petersburg police Detective Anthony Foster
on charges that he extorted $8,000 in cash and goods from an informant
who was trying to avoid jail time.

The homicide detective's arrest has raised questions about how the
department handles confiA-dential informants and whether police have
too much leeway in the largely clandestine world.

Police Chief Chuck Harmon said investigators will review all the cases
that Foster worked on, as well as any confidential inforA-mants he
handled. They also will review department policies that dictate how
informers are hanA-dled and how much oversight is given to the
detectives who use them.

'I'm sure we'll talk about any safeguards we can create as a result of
this incident,' Harmon said. 'I'm sure we'll be speaking to any other
informant he has.' The FBI's criminal complaint against Foster depicts
a detective with near unlimited discretion in his dealings with an
informant. Foster texted and called the informer to demand payments in
cash or gifts, such as a widescreen TV, Nike shoes and groceries. The
FBI alleges Foster made clear in recorded conversations that, in
exchange, he would get a reduced sentence for the informant, who had
been arrested on a grand theft charge in Hernando County.

St. Petersburg police would not release a copy of the department's
policy regarding officers' dealings with confidential informants.
Spokesman Mike Puetz said the policy 'contains information pertaining
to the procedures utilized in covert operations, the release of which
might compromise current or future criminal investigations.' A
redacted copy will be provided next week, he said.

However, the criminal complaint against Foster suggests that there are
either few regulations in place or that they aren't always followed.
For example, in Foster's effort to convince the assistant state
attorney in Hernando that the informant had helped him solve some
cases, Foster had his sergeant call to corroborate his informant's
value.

The supervisor, according to the complaint, told the assistant state
attorney that the informer helped in major homicide cases and was
'more of a benefit out of jail rather than in jail.' Later, the
sergeant faxed a list of four major investigations - including a March
23 murder - in which the informer assisted. When the FBI showed the
informer the list, however, the informer denied assisting in any of
those cases.

It's unclear why Foster's supervisor believed the informer had been
helpful on those cases. Harmon has said he believes the sergeant was
duped by Foster.

But other law enforcement officials said the incident seems like cause
for further concern.

'I would verify that list, as a supervisor, before I put my name on it
and send it to the State Attorney's Office in Hernando,' said
Sullivan, the retired Pasco lieutenant. 'That's a red flag. If you're
using informants, there needs to be immense documentation detailing
what they've done.

'As a supervisor, I want to see a case number, a running log of where
that case is and how that informer helped. There needs to be intense
supervisory oversight when informants are being used.' But often there
isn't, said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in
Los Angeles and national expert on confidential informants.

'The reason the use of informants is so out of control is the lack of
regulation and transparency,' Natapoff said. 'The government is
largely unaccountable in how they use informants.' Without checks and
balances, the informant system can go horribly awry in cases that gain
national notoriety. In 2008, Rachel Hoffman was murdered during an
undercover drug buy while working as a confidential informant for the
Tallahassee Police Department. Florida later passed 'Rachel's Law'
requiring police agencies to tighten restrictions on the use of informants.

The Los Angeles Police Department banned the use of informants after
officers planted evidence and trumped up charges against suspects in a
scandal 10 years ago. And the FBI resorted to tougher controls on the
use of informants in 2001 after it was found that its Boston office
had protected informers who were criminal kingpins, such as James
'Whitey' Bulger.

FBI agents must now complete a report that documents informers'
identities, their motivations for cooperating, and their relationship
to the cases. The reports are signed by the agent's supervisor and
reviewed each year.

St. Petersburg police have two types of informants, one paid and the
other informal, Puetz said.

The paid usually assist in narcotics investigations or complex
criminal cases, where they might have to wear a wire. The department
keeps files on these types of informants.

There aren't any guidelines dictating how informal sources are
handled, he said. These tend to be more like witnesses who tell
detectives what they might have seen or heard on the street, he said.

Puetz said he couldn't comment on whether Foster's informant was
informal or paid.

Informants are necessary, said Puetz, a former homicide investigator
himself.

'In homicide and narcotics investigations, without the use of
informants, we'd be dead in the water,' Puetz said. 'It's unfortunate
something like this happened with Foster. We have to keep in mind that
hundreds and hundreds of contacts are made every year with informants,
and it's just this one case that was a violation of trust.' Natapoff
said she suspects there are more cases like Foster's because
informants often won't come forward because they have criminal records
and know they don't have much credibility.

'A vast number of informants are vulnerable because they are young,
addicted, poor, illiterate,' she said. 'It can be a very exploitive
relationship.' And one that can change quickly.

Foster's once vulnerable informant is now the government's key witness
against him.