We have to have someone who is able to purchase drugs from drugs dealers, either volunteers or someone working off charges. The fact that many, if not most, confidential informants are criminals should surprise no one, say the drug agents who use them. People with prior records are the types of people we have to deal with. The shadier the character, perhaps, the better the credentials in the drug and crime subculture. According to Utt, most informants sign up because they want help with pending criminal charges.
Pay is the second most popular motive for informants.
Volunteers, especially ones without criminal records, are rare, Utt said. Agents also try to screen out dealers trying to eliminate rivals or people bent on revenge. The unit funds most of its budget with cash and other assets forfeited by suspects in federal and state drug cases, he said. Nationally, the payroll for informants has nearly quadrupled in the last 13 years, according to a 1995 series of articles in the National Law Journal. Utt said that no one receives too much of a break.