Police spend $2m on informers

Photo / File

Police paid criminal narks nearly $2 million in the past five years.

The sometimes-controversial police informant programme is shrouded in secrecy.

But detectives say some of their most successful investigations would never have happened without confidential sources.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show police paid $400,239 in the 2009-10 financial year and $119,539 in the current financial year to date.

Since 2005, $1,963,960 has been paid to criminal informants.

Police will not reveal the number of crimes solved by informants or the biggest amounts paid to individuals, or release any reports discussing problems with the informant programme.

"The information would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law including the prevention, investigation and detection of offences and the right to a fair trial," wrote the police HQ's head of covert operations, Detective Inspector Paul Berry.

He said most police work relied on information from the public, including the criminal underworld.

"They provide a picture of what is occurring in an area that is difficult to break into."

Money was not always the motivation, said Mr Berry. Often, the informant could know a police officer from school, or sports teams. Or it could be to help mitigate any court trouble.

"Then there's a group who do it for money. It's a straight business transaction," said Mr Berry. "That's what the majority of crime is about: money."

Mr Berry said the $400,000 spent in the last financial year was a small fraction of the cost of crime in New Zealand, particularly the $1 billion methamphetamine trade.

"Common sense would indicate that criminals are not getting rich on the Government. The benefits we reap are a hundred-thousand fold."

Detectives, particularly those who investigate organised crime, say the public should be grateful to their "fizzers".

The practice of "narking" is frowned upon in the criminal fraternity and retribution can be brutal.

"These people risk their lives to help the police," said one officer.

The practice of paying informants came under scrutiny when the Government ordered a review of payments in 2001 after police paid $30,000 to killer Travis Burns. He accused his friend Christopher Lewis of the murder of Auckland woman Tania Furlan in 1996 - when he himself was the killer.

Lewis claimed Burns had framed him and committed suicide in jail before trial. Burns went on to kill Aucklander Joanne McCarthy in nearly identical fashion to the Furlan slaying.

The then Justice Minister, Phil Goff, said at the time that paying witnesses should not be stopped, but should be more transparent.

"The very payment of an individual suggests there may be an ulterior motive in what they are saying, rather than simply the desire to tell the truth."

Some informants are on weekly retainers and can claim entertainment and mileage expenses in "extraordinary" cases. District commanders can sign off payments of up to $2000 and regional commanders up to $8000. Any reward above $8000 must be authorised by the deputy commissioner.

Informants also receive benefits such as legal help, or letters to the court to diminish prison sentences.

One criminal informant said he was paid $1200 after giving police the location of a P clan lab and the names of those running it. On other occasions he was paid nothing.

An underworld source told the Herald that police should be wary of the motivations of criminal informants, even when the tip is legitimate.

The criminal figure said the Asian organised crime syndicates "give up" smaller players to police as a diversion.

He cited the case of Chun "Larry" Lee, 17, the North Shore schoolboy who was a "catcher" of parcels sent from China. Paid just $5000, Lee was sentenced to four years in prison after being caught with $250,000 of P hidden inside hairdryers.

"That boy was just a decoy who was given up because there was a big shipment of drugs coming," the source said.

Mr Berry said police were aware of the possibility. "Bear in mind some of these people are criminals. And they do things to suit themselves and they may well do that. When we get an inkling of that, we do investigate to make sure they haven't set someone up."

Defence barrister John Haigh, QC, said informants were a useful tool for police as long as the reliability of the source was tested.

"There are dangers that an informant will potentially set up someone they have a grievance with," he said, "so the police have to treat informants with a significant degree of scepticism."

THE BILL

$296,048...2005-06
$271,111...2006-07
$430,178...2007-08
$446,845..2008-09
$400,239...2009-10
$119,539...2010-11 to date
$1,963,960...Total