What is a confidential informant, confidential witness or a whistleblower?
What is a confidential witness (CW)? What is a confidential informant (CI)?
A confidential witness is someone who has seen a crime committed and due to security reasons comes forward in secret to report that crime.
Confidential informants work for the government, often secretly, to gather and provide information or to testify in exchange for cash or leniency in punishment for their own crimes. Unlike witnesses, informants are motivated by self-advancement. An informant can be a useful law enforcement tool – a necessary evil – if used properly.
Confidential Informant News Snippett
Feds make arrests in Scottsdale bombing
What is a whistleblower?
A whistleblower is an employee, former employee, or member of an organization, especially a business or government agency, who reports misconduct to people or entities that have the power and presumed willingness to take corrective action. Generally the misconduct is a violation of law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption.
The term whistleblower is from the practice of English bobbies who would blow their whistle when they noticed the commission of a crime. The blowing of the whistle would alert both law enforcement officers and the general public of danger.
