Why is it so important for an investigator to develop confidential informants?
Det. Robert Jakucs: An investigator can spend thousands of man hours to try and make a case. With the right technique and the right words, the same information can be developed in ten minutes from a confidential informant to break a case wide open. My approach is designed to get this person to give the information to an investigator. R.S.: You’ve identified several basic motivations that most informants will respond to. What are they? R.J.: The main ones are fear, self-importance, retaliation or revenge, gossip, and financial motives. R.S.: How does an investigator identify which of these motivating factors is going to work with any given potential informant? R.J.: I’m a big proponent of trying to find out as much as you can about a potential informant beforehand. If you know that the person is in an economic plight, there’s something you can hang on them. This tells you that this particular informant may be susceptible to a financial motive. R.S.: Take the motivation of self-importanc
