Informatörer och infiltratörer - polisiära metoder vid brottsbekämpning

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to explore the use of informers and infiltrators by the police through a legal certainty point of view. An informer is a person that is completely detached from police authority and part of or in contact with a criminal network. The informer provides the police with valuble information about the criminal network in order to ease the fight against crime. In contrast, the infiltrator’s mission is to penetrate the criminal organisation in order to earn trust and summon meaningful information. The infiltrator can be a private citizen or a police officer with a procteced identity. There is no legal regulation regarding the use of informers and infiltrators. The police has to comply there methods to the police Act and some fundamental principles. However, there is guidleines for the use of informers. Infiltration lack guidlines but rules regarding entrapment is quite relevant. In case police has used an informer or an infiltrator, it is possible to conseal this information. But one suspect in a criminal case has the right of access to material that is relevant for the assesment of the prosecution. This principle can obstruct the privacy of informers and infiltrators. It is important that the methods are not used in a manner that violates article 6 ECHR. Furthermore, informers and infiltrators entail some problems and hazards. When the police cooperate with criminal persons there is a risk that these persons have interests that are incompatible with the police’s interest in combating crime. The informar and the infiltrator also expose themselves to a big risk when disclosing information about their criminal friends. A disclosure of the cooperation with the police is fatal. As things stand, the methods are not very compatible with the rule of law. Without legal provisions on the methods, judical decisions are not very predictable. The general principles to which the police should relate and the methods can be difficult to reconcile. Law enforcement of the methods should be done, so their use can be justified on the basis of legal certainty.