Afternoon:
9°c
Snouts out of the trough as Yard cuts bill for tip-offs
Peter Dominiczak27 Jul 2009
Scotland Yard is spending less on informers during the recession, figures reveal.
The Met paid £1.86million for tip-offs during the last financial year. That is a drop of £270,000 on the £2.13million paid to "covert human intelligence sources" in the previous year.
But it still means officers are handing over about £5,100 every day, some of it to people with strong links to crime.
The figures, contained in documents obtained by the Press Association, shine a rare light on one of the most secretive areas of modern policing.
The Met, like others forces in England and Wales, refuses to disclose its spending on informants, even after Freedom of Information requests.
Senior officers have said informants remain a key weapon against crime and are cost effective compared with surveillance operations.
There is evidence MI5 shares this view and has redoubled its efforts in recent years to recruit informants.
Critics fear informant handling procedures could be abused by officers because large amounts of cash changes hands under a cloak of secrecy.
The Metropolitan Police Authority has met behind closed doors over the last 12 months to discuss the matter.
The figures were in budget documents filed at the end of the financial year 2008/09. The papers also revealed £3.39million was spent on surveillance operations.
Reader views (1)
Theres no money left, the police have spent it all paying out all those jackpot winnings to all the serial litigators who didnt pass selection.
- Russell, London, 27/07/2009 10:22
Report abuse
