Are 'police informers' actually a real thing?

[PumpkiPie]

Also know as "a grass" etc. People who inform the police about various crimes going on in exchange for immunity or favours. Is this a real thing?

I ask because I was told my neighbour is one, which would explain a lot about the things he/his family gets away with.

I always thought a "grass" was someone who told on another (to the police) to save themselves from consequences. I didn't realise there were people who informed the police as an arrangement in exchange for favours?

Yes but I’m not sure it works quite like you’re imagining.

Also, remember with the police- never attribute to [subversion] what you can attribute to incompetence. Hanlon’s razor (slightly modified).

Yes. CHIS - covert human intelligence source.

Doesn't work like the movies. Highly unlikely your neighbour is a CHIS though, as they do not get immunity from prosecution for ongoing criminal activity they are involved in unless it's highly specific, authorised by on high and massively risk assessed.

Yes

Why would someone be one if there was a high chance they could be prosecuted too? 🤔

I knew a sweet elderly lady who kept an eye on the drug dealers upstairs and phoned in her information. No one knew - she told many years later

Most people do that, the public are basically the police. Rare to see officers patrolling these days.

I know a couple of informants through my job although they don't know I know (although they are not as inconspicuous as they think they are)

Might get a lighter sentence?

As long as the other lags don't get wind that they are a grass 😉

To bring down an organised crime group or a terrorist organisation, usually.

It doesn't work how you think & is widely misunderstood.

Another term is "tout". These labels including "grass" is meant to dehumanise them as well as to psychologically coerce others not to become one.

It certainly doesn't mean a State controls such groups from the inside either.

Probably right about my neighbour not being one then. The family are "that" family; involved in theft/antisocial behaviour etc and known in area for being awful. When someone told me he was a police informant it did make sense, but he's not that bright and would be grassing on low level crime/theft/violence as opposed to bringing down big drug gangs or terrorism!

So they are just your average scummy family then, with the police not really interested in them day to day because they are one of many thousands of such types.

CHIS will often be charged along with their counterparts but basically a nice letter can be written to the Judge about their actions to support the police and it can be taken into account for sentencing under separate legislation - for the less serious stuff. I've done this in the past for exceptional circumstances where a burgled basically gave us lots of details of other burglars, stolen goods handlers and dodgy jewellers in the city. Only when that had panned out into arrests and searches with food recoveries of stolen gear did my DCI put pen to paper... Just in case it was all lies.

Alternatively, someone MAY negotiate being a witness not a suspect for very high end stuff but that's pretty rare.

CHIS handlers spend a lot of time talking to smackheads who think they are much more important than they are, with constant pleas for cash to be urgently exchanged for information (to buy drugs) and trying to weed out and get access to people who can actually give the serious information they need to use as intelligence for serious crimes.

This might be interesting to you but it's fairly technical on the law:
lordslibrary.parliament.uk/covert-human-intelligence-sources-criminal-conduct/