Confidential Informant List For My City Exclusive Link

When a police department seizes cash or cars based on a CI’s tip, that CI is often listed in the forfeiture complaint. By filing a public records request for all forfeiture affidavits from the last five years, you can sometimes compile a partial, historical list of informants—names redacted, but with their "handler ID" visible.

Most courts have ruled that even the existence of a CI list is exempt from disclosure. In The Detroit Free Press v. City of Detroit (2022), a judge ruled that releasing a roster of active CIs would lead to "an immediate and foreseeable risk of retaliatory homicide." confidential informant list for my city exclusive

is the killer. It protects records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes that "could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source." When a police department seizes cash or cars

The idea is intoxicating. Imagine a document—a spreadsheet, a PDF, a leather-bound ledger—sitting in a police chief’s safe. On it are names, code numbers, and handler badges. The "exclusive" list of who is singing for the sheriff. For defense attorneys, journalists, and the curious public, obtaining that list feels like finding the Holy Grail of local transparency. In The Detroit Free Press v

Under , prosecutors must turn over exculpatory evidence. Under Roviaro v. United States , if an informant is an active participant in the crime (a witness, not just a tipster), the judge can force the state to reveal the CI’s identity.

The confidential informant list for your city is a legal fiction designed to protect lives. It exists, but it is fragmented across encrypted hard drives, locked evidence lockers, and the memories of handlers.