Another L&O inspired question.
In one episode, where they are looking for a newborn, a young man is reluctant to help the police find his friend.
Fontana pulls out a wad of money in order to encourage the man to give up the information.
Since a common L&O theme is that cops are underpaid, does that money get paid back to them?
Are American police detectives given money to grease the wheels?
Isn’t it some kind of L&O subplot line that Fontana has too much money for his station? As I recall, he drives some kind of fancy car, wears expensive imported suits, so on.
I think that is supposed to be more about Fontanas character – he’s willing to spend his money looking for the kid.
Cops? I dunno. Commanders in Iraq/Afghanistan? Definitely. They bribe people all the time.
In general, no. They can pay informers, but have to account for the money. They also might need cash for an undercover drug buy, but, again, they have to account for the money when the ask for it.
They are not given a wad of cash to spend however they want; the temptation to spend it on non-police items is too great.
Fontana was supposed to have some mysterious source of money of his own.
Fontana is rich. Wears vicuna coats, tailored suits and drives a six figure Mercedes.
Cops are given money for bribes, purchases, etc., but every last cent of it has to be accounted for.
Some years back I was on a unit that did alcohol stings (sending underaged informants into places to see if they would sell them alcohol).
One of the places that sold gave back incorrect change and the informant didn’t catch it before leaving the establishment.
That explanation alone should have sufficed. Had I thought it wasn’t good enough I probably would have just added the missing amount from my own pocket and kept mum about the store clerks screw up.
But no, I did things by the book and put down on the forms that we were short. This resulted in a 4 day internal investigation consisting of interviews of me, my partner, my Lieutenant, and the informant.
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FOR A LOUSY $1.38! JEBUS KHRIST!!! **
Well, in my experience, yes they are usually given money for bribes, but I understand that sometimes you can bribe them with drugs or sex, but I’ve only heard rumors of that. I’ve always used cash.
Well, that’s what the OP title sounded like it was about.
Going by “The Shield,” bribe money for informants is budgeted.
Going by “The Shield”, bribe money for informants is taken from the pockets of other criminals :). What they gon’ do, call the police ?
This reminds me of something that happened to a Federal agent I once worked with (name and agency concealed to protect the allegedly guilty). Approval for payment to an informant was coming slowly, but the snitch was producing good information. To help the process along, he paid the informant (cash) out of his own pocket; I don’t recall what the payment was, and it can vary widely. At any rate, his idea was that he’d just take the CI payment as reimbursement.
Not at all by the book, mind you. But it allowed for furthering of the investigation. And then someone snitched on him… an internal investigation resulted in his termination. He’ll never work as a LEO again.
Kind of sad, since he wasn’t doing anything for profit, but just trying to continue paying his CI.
I was thinking along the same lines, yes cash works.