Opinion ID: 786701
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Information Provided by Informants

Text: 25 Often the information needed to supply probable cause is not gathered independently by police officers but instead is provided by professional criminal informants, Caldarola, 298 F.3d at 163, witnesses to a particular event, id., or participants in the crime at issue, United States v. Jackson, 560 F.2d 112, 121 (2d Cir.1977). In assessing the veracity of an informant's statements, it is improper to discount the information provided simply because [the informant] has no proven record of truthfulness or accuracy. United States v. Canfield, 212 F.3d 713, 719 (2d Cir.2000) (internal quotation marks omitted). There is, in particular, no need to show past reliability when the informant... is in fact a participant in the very crime at issue. Jackson, 560 F.2d at 121. However, although other circuits have recognized that criminals caught red-handed may be reliable sources of information because [t]he informant's interest in obtaining leniency creat[es] a strong motive to supply accurate information, United States v. Miller, 925 F.2d 695, 699 (4th Cir.1991), we have also cautioned that a criminal informer is less reliable than an innocent bystander with no apparent motive to falsify, Caldarola, 298 F.3d at 163 (internal quotation marks omitted). Whether or not the informant speaks to an officer in person or through the mediation of an anonymous means of communication may also bear upon the reliability of the information he provides; thus, a face-to-face informant must ... be thought more reliable than an anonymous telephone tipster, for the former runs the greater risk that he may be held accountable if his information proves false. United States v. Salazar, 945 F.2d 47, 50-51 (2d Cir.1991); accord Canfield, 212 F.3d at 719. 26 In addition to considering an informant's veracity, reliability, and basis of knowledge, in assessing the totality of the circumstances we also evaluate whether the information an informant provides is corroborated by independent police investigation, Canfield, 212 F.3d at 719-20, because an informant who is right about some facts is more likely to be right about others, Gates, 462 U.S. at 241-46, 103 S.Ct. 2317. We consider such corroboration in evaluating the existence of probable cause even if only an informant's account of anticipated innocent activities is confirmed. See Gates, 462 U.S. at 244, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (holding that the corroboration of facts in an anonymous informant's letter that the defendants' car would be in Florida, that one of the defendants would fly to Florida within the next day or so, and that the defendant would then drive towards Bloomington, Indiana, all contributed to a legitimate belief that the informant's additional assertions of criminal activity were true and probable cause had been established); Canfield, 212 F.3d at 720 (2d Cir.2000) (corroboration of innocent details means that there is a higher probability the incriminating facts are true). But see United States v. Pena, 961 F.2d 333, 339 (2d Cir.1992) (remanding for a suppression hearing when the tip provided by a confidential informant whom the government claimed was reliable was corroborated only by innocent behavior).