In the United States, similar breaches have occurred, though they rarely receive the same attention. The Kansas Department of Corrections, for example, revealed a prison informant's secret cooperation during a civil service appeal, despite promising to maintain his anonymity. The informant, Justin Jade Collins, was subsequently targeted by gangs, with a corrections officer allegedly yelling down a hallway that Collins "was a confidential informant/snitch". Collins eventually settled a federal lawsuit with the state for $4,000—a small price for a protection system that had failed so dramatically.
Only a select few handlers, intelligence officers, and top-tier commanders can view them.
Legal scholar Russell D. Covey, writing in the University of Colorado Law Review in 2025, found "overwhelming evidence of the link between the use of jailhouse informants and patterns of corruption and misconduct." His research also documented "a significant correlation between the incidence of false confessions and false testimony from jailhouse informants," suggesting that the problem is not merely one of police misconduct but of systemic unreliability. confidential informant list for my city exclusive
These sites often require you to create an account, stealing your passwords and email details.
The Globe investigation documented police officers who betrayed informants, putting them at great risk, and a narcotics detective who allegedly let an informant keep a kilogram of cocaine in exchange for arranging a major drug bust. In several instances, police were accused of exploiting vulnerable women, leveraging their drug addictions to extract information and, in some cases, sexual favors. In the United States, similar breaches have occurred,
In 40 years of case law, no judge has ever released an entire CI roster to a defendant. They release one name.
Inside the Shadows: The Truth About "Exclusive" Confidential Informant Lists in Your City Collins eventually settled a federal lawsuit with the
To understand why a list is lethal, one must first understand what a CI actually does. Contrary to the cinematic image of the slippery criminal buying their way out of jail, the average CI is often a low-level addict, a vulnerable sex worker, or a peripheral gang affiliate. They are not trusted by the criminals they inform on; they are tolerated. Their currency is information; their payment is often a reduced sentence or the survival of a loved one.
When a site does produce names, it is usually a fraudulent compilation. Scammers scrape local arrest feeds, sex offender registries, or court dockets, rebranding ordinary citizens as informants to drive web traffic or blackmail individuals. How Informant Identities Actually Surface Legally
"This 'City Exclusive' report provides an eye-opening and rare glimpse into the local law enforcement’s use of confidential human sources. By compiling data on payments and reliability, this project pulls back the curtain on how 'snitch' culture operates in our specific neighborhoods. The level of detail—from the types of crimes targeted to the costs incurred by taxpayers—is impressive. While it doesn't (and legally shouldn't) name individuals to prevent retaliation, it serves as a critical accountability tool for assessing whether these programs are managed with proper oversight." 3. The Professional Policy Guide