Bill Text: FL S0372 | 2015 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Confidential Informants

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2015-05-01 - Died in Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice [S0372 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S0372-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                              CS for SB 372
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senator Dean
       
       
       
       
       
       591-02748-15                                           2015372c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to confidential informants; amending
    3         s. 914.28, F.S.; requiring a law enforcement agency
    4         that uses confidential informants to adopt policies
    5         and procedures providing reasonable protective
    6         measures; requiring such agencies to provide certain
    7         prospective and current confidential informants with
    8         information on substance abuse treatment options that
    9         may be available; requiring that the policies and
   10         procedures provide general guidelines for the
   11         management and safety of confidential informants and
   12         training requirements for certain agency personnel;
   13         revising factors used in assessing a person’s
   14         suitability as a confidential informant; requiring a
   15         law enforcement agency that solicits a person to act
   16         as a confidential informants to provide them with the
   17         opportunity to consult with legal counsel before
   18         signing a Substantial Assistance Agreement;
   19         authorizing such agencies to advise prospective
   20         confidential informants that they may waive that
   21         right; prohibiting a person under 18 years of age from
   22         participating in certain activities without written
   23         parental or guardian consent; allowing such person to
   24         provide confidential information to a law enforcement
   25         agency; prohibiting a person who is receiving certain
   26         substance abuse treatment from participating in
   27         certain activities; allowing such person to provide
   28         confidential information to a law enforcement agency;
   29         prohibiting a person who is under the jurisdiction of
   30         a drug court program from participating in certain
   31         activities without the consent of the state attorney
   32         assigned to the drug court program; requiring a law
   33         enforcement agency to report a drug court participant
   34         it believes has violated any drug court rules to the
   35         state attorney; requiring a law enforcement agency to
   36         annually collect and submit confidential informant
   37         data to the Department of Law Enforcement; prohibiting
   38         such data from disclosing certain information;
   39         specifying information required to be submitted to the
   40         department; requiring the department to make such data
   41         publicly available by a specified date; providing
   42         penalties; providing an effective date.
   43          
   44  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         Section 1. Paragraphs (f) and (g) are added to subsection
   47  (3) of section 914.28, Florida Statutes, subsections (4), (5),
   48  and (7) of that section are amended, present subsection (8) of
   49  that section is redesignated as subsection (12) and amended, and
   50  new subsections (8) through (11) are added to that section, to
   51  read:
   52         914.28 Confidential informants.—
   53         (3) A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   54  informants shall:
   55         (f) Adopt policies and procedures that provide reasonable
   56  protective measures for confidential informants when a law
   57  enforcement agency knows or should have known of a risk or
   58  threat of harm to a person serving as a confidential informant
   59  and the risk or threat of harm is a result of his or her service
   60  to the law enforcement agency.
   61         (g) Provide prospective and current confidential informants
   62  who are known to be substance abusers or to be at risk for
   63  substance abuse with information on substance abuse treatment
   64  options that may be available in their community or region.
   65         (4) A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   66  informants shall establish policies and procedures addressing
   67  the recruitment, control, and use of confidential informants.
   68  The policies and procedures must state the:
   69         (a) Information that the law enforcement agency shall
   70  maintain concerning each confidential informant;
   71         (b) General guidelines for the management and safety of
   72  handling confidential informants;
   73         (c) Process to advise a confidential informant of
   74  conditions, restrictions, and procedures associated with
   75  participating in the agency’s investigative or intelligence
   76  gathering activities;
   77         (d) Designated supervisory or command-level review and
   78  oversight in the use of a confidential informant;
   79         (e) Limits or restrictions on off-duty association or
   80  social relationships by agency personnel involved in
   81  investigative or intelligence gathering with confidential
   82  informants;
   83         (f) Guidelines to deactivate confidential informants,
   84  including guidelines for deactivating communications with
   85  confidential informants; and
   86         (g) Training requirements that agency personnel must
   87  complete in order to recruit and manage confidential informants
   88  which are consistent with national law enforcement standards
   89  Level of supervisory approval required before a juvenile is used
   90  as a confidential informant.
   91         (5) A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   92  informants shall establish policies and procedures to assess the
   93  suitability of using a person as a confidential informant which,
   94  at a minimum, consider all of by considering the minimum
   95  following factors:
   96         (a) The person’s age, and maturity, and experience to serve
   97  as a confidential informant.;
   98         (b) The risk the person poses to adversely affect a present
   99  or potential investigation or prosecution.;
  100         (c) The effect upon agency efforts that the disclosure of
  101  the person’s cooperation may have on the agency’s investigative
  102  or intelligence gathering activities. in the community may have;
  103         (d) Whether the person is a substance abuser or has a
  104  history of substance abuse. or is in a court-supervised drug
  105  treatment program;
  106         (e) The risk of physical harm to the person, his or her
  107  immediate family, or close associates as a result of providing
  108  information or assistance, or upon the disclosure of the
  109  person’s assistance. to the community;
  110         (f) Whether the person has shown any indication of
  111  emotional instability or, unreliability, or of furnishing false
  112  information.;
  113         (g) The person’s criminal history or prior criminal
  114  record.; and
  115         (h) Whether the use of the person is may be necessary
  116  important to or vital to the success of an investigation.
  117         (7) A state or local law enforcement agency that uses
  118  confidential informants shall perform a periodic review of
  119  actual agency confidential informant practices to ensure
  120  conformity with the agency’s policies and procedures and this
  121  section.
  122         (8) A law enforcement agency that enlists a person to be a
  123  confidential informant shall inform the person of the right to
  124  consult with a legal counsel before entering into a Substantial
  125  Assistance Agreement to serve as a confidential informant.
  126  However, the agency may advise the prospective confidential
  127  informant that he or she may waive the right to consult with
  128  legal counsel before entering into the Substantial Assistance
  129  Agreement, and he or she may serve as a confidential informant
  130  without consulting with legal counsel if such waiver is
  131  documented.
  132         (9)(a) A person who is younger than 18 years of age may not
  133  participate in a controlled buy or sale of contraband or related
  134  activities without the written consent of a parent or legal
  135  guardian, but may provide confidential information to a law
  136  enforcement agency.
  137         (b) A person who is receiving inpatient substance abuse
  138  treatment or outpatient substance abuse treatment from a
  139  licensed service provider pursuant to ch. 394 may not
  140  participate in a controlled buy or sale of contraband or related
  141  activities, but may provide confidential information to a law
  142  enforcement agency while receiving substance abuse treatment. A
  143  person who is under the jurisdiction of a drug court or
  144  participating in a drug court program may not participate in a
  145  controlled buy or sale or related activities without the consent
  146  of the state attorney assigned to the drug court program. If a
  147  law enforcement agency believes that a drug court participant
  148  has violated any drug court rules, the law enforcement agency
  149  shall promptly report the participant to the state attorney
  150  assigned to the drug court.
  151         (10) A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
  152  informants shall collect and report data that includes the
  153  information required by paragraphs (a)—(h). The Department of
  154  Law Enforcement shall develop and disseminate a standardized
  155  form that must be completed by every law enforcement agency that
  156  uses confidential informants. A law enforcement agency that uses
  157  confidential informants shall collect such data for the
  158  preceding calendar year and report it by March 1 of each year to
  159  the department. Upon receipt of the completed forms, the
  160  department shall compile the data and, by each June 1, issue a
  161  publicly available report on paragraphs (a)-(h). The data and
  162  report may not include categories of active confidential
  163  informants compiled by race, ethnicity, gender, and zip code or
  164  disclose the identity of a confidential informant, but must
  165  include all of the following information:
  166         (a) The number of active confidential informants.
  167         (b) The ages of active confidential informants.
  168         (c) The number of confidential informants used to conduct
  169  controlled buys or sales of contraband, or related activities
  170  conducted on behalf of the agency.
  171         (d) The number of deaths of confidential informants which
  172  occurred during controlled buys or sales of contraband, or
  173  related activities conducted on behalf of the agency.
  174         (e) The number of injuries to confidential informants that
  175  occurred during controlled buys or sales of contraband, or
  176  related activities conducted on behalf of the agency.
  177         (f) The number of deaths of confidential informants whose
  178  cause of death may be related to their service as a confidential
  179  informant.
  180         (g) The number of injuries to confidential informants whose
  181  cause of injury may be related to their service as a
  182  confidential informant.
  183         (h) The total amount of cash payments provided to a
  184  confidential informant by the agency.
  185         (11) A law enforcement officer, or a person designated as
  186  support personnel as defined in s. 943.10(11), who willfully
  187  fails to comply with this act commits culpable negligence as
  188  provided in s. 782.07(1) or s. 784.05(1).
  189         (12)(8) The provisions of This section and policies and
  190  procedures adopted pursuant to this section do not grant any
  191  right or entitlement to a confidential informant or a person who
  192  is requested to be a confidential informant, and any failure to
  193  abide by this section may not be relied upon to create any
  194  additional right, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law
  195  by a defendant in a criminal proceeding.
  196         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2015.