Staffordshire Police payout £60k a year on informants
Staffordshire Police is paying informants more than £60,000-a-year, the Express & Star can reveal.
The force has spent a total of £320,038 in the past five years, according to a Freedom of Information request.
The money is used to obtain sensitive information which helps with police investigations.
The most costly year was 2016/17 when police paid informants £87,454.
Up to this year, in 2018/19, the figure is £60,571.25 although this could rise still.
In 2017/18, the figure was £71,992.29, in 2015/16 the figure was £56,983.31 and in 2014/15 the figure was £43,037.86.
The data, released through a Freedom of Information request by the Express & Star, did not portray a trend in the statistics.
The force could not say how many informants had been paid because the FOI request would exceed the cost and time limit under the Freedom of Information Act.
The informants have helped Staffordshire Police to solve criminal investigations.
They are people who provide privileged information to police officers.
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “Using and recruiting informants is a legitimate and closely regulated tactic by police forces.
"Many serious and organised crime offences, including those that pose a serious risk of harm or financial loss to the public, rely on the use of information from informants.
“There are very strict processes in place to ensure that this incredibly sensitive area of policing is carefully managed. It is governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and extreme care is taken to ensure that informants are only used when deemed absolutely necessary in the prevention of detection and crime.”
The office for Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, declined to comment on the figures.
