Seven police forces have revealed details of how much they spend on informants, but have refused to provide details about how many individuals were on their payroll and whether any registered informants have been convicted of crimes.
The Epoch Times made a request to 10 police forces and the National Crime Agency (NCA) under the Freedom of Information Act for information about covert human intelligence sources (CHISs).
All 10 forces refused to provide information about the number of individuals who were registered as CHISs in the year ending March 2022, and how it compared with the number from the previous 10 years.
Police Scotland claimed: “Disclosure would present an increased risk to those operating as CHIS as it would lead to members of organised crime groups seeking to identify any CHIS who may be reporting their activities … Disclosure would allow apparent spikes to be identified that could in turn be associated to a particular serious crime and compromise a CHIS operation.”…