Post by bistro on Jan 7, 2015 19:03:54 GMT -5
Confidential informer blows whistle in fatal Tampa home invasion
Dec 26, 2014 by Peter Jamison, Times Staff Writer www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/times-exclusive-confidential-informer-blows-whistle-in-jason-westcott-death/2211596
The scene beaming from the bedroom television wasn't special, another drug bust in a decaying north Tampa neighborhood. Ronnie "Bodie" Coogle squinted at the screen. He recognized that street, lit by ghostly pulses of red and blue. "Bodie," his wife said, lying beside him. "You see this?"
Coogle turned up the volume as the 11 o'clock news cut to cops in black ballistic vests, standing amid the inky silhouettes of sabal palms. After a minute he sat up and grabbed his cellphone. He called the detectives whose numbers he had, whose names he knew, again and again. About 3 a.m. his phone finally began buzzing. Voice hoarse, eyes wild and red-rimmed, he picked up and spoke. "Did y'all kill Jason?"
• • •
Some call them snitches. The police officers who can't live without them call them confidential informants, or simply "C.I.'s." They're the expendable cogs that make the machinery of America's drug war hum.
Few people who don't wear badges or commit crimes ever see them at work. Distrusted by the innocent and fearful of vengeance from the guilty, informers have no cause to court attention. Some states, including Florida, have special laws protecting their identities.
"It's very unusual for the public to get a glimpse of how active informants interact with their police handlers," said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who monitors informer use nationwide. "The criminal system is designed to make sure we never hear these stories." Coogle approached the Tampa Bay Times in July, saying he had one such story to tell. His tale offers a remarkable window on the front lines of narcotics policing — and raises troubling questions about the police force that put him on its payroll. More at the link above.
Dec 26, 2014 by Peter Jamison, Times Staff Writer www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/times-exclusive-confidential-informer-blows-whistle-in-jason-westcott-death/2211596
The scene beaming from the bedroom television wasn't special, another drug bust in a decaying north Tampa neighborhood. Ronnie "Bodie" Coogle squinted at the screen. He recognized that street, lit by ghostly pulses of red and blue. "Bodie," his wife said, lying beside him. "You see this?"
Coogle turned up the volume as the 11 o'clock news cut to cops in black ballistic vests, standing amid the inky silhouettes of sabal palms. After a minute he sat up and grabbed his cellphone. He called the detectives whose numbers he had, whose names he knew, again and again. About 3 a.m. his phone finally began buzzing. Voice hoarse, eyes wild and red-rimmed, he picked up and spoke. "Did y'all kill Jason?"
• • •
Some call them snitches. The police officers who can't live without them call them confidential informants, or simply "C.I.'s." They're the expendable cogs that make the machinery of America's drug war hum.
Few people who don't wear badges or commit crimes ever see them at work. Distrusted by the innocent and fearful of vengeance from the guilty, informers have no cause to court attention. Some states, including Florida, have special laws protecting their identities.
"It's very unusual for the public to get a glimpse of how active informants interact with their police handlers," said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who monitors informer use nationwide. "The criminal system is designed to make sure we never hear these stories." Coogle approached the Tampa Bay Times in July, saying he had one such story to tell. His tale offers a remarkable window on the front lines of narcotics policing — and raises troubling questions about the police force that put him on its payroll. More at the link above.