confidential informant
Undercover police helper
A confidential informant is someone who secretly provides information to law enforcement about criminal activity, often in exchange for money, leniency on charges, or other benefits.
The term emphasizes that the informant's identity is protected: The case relied heavily on testimony from a confidential informant.
Shortened to CI in police jargon.
One who tells authorities
- ratRodent or informer
- tipsterOne who shares predictions
- moleSubterranean insectivore
- stoolieInformal police informant
squealer · nark · fink · canary · tattletale · grass · source · witness
Secretly engaged in espionage
- covertIntentionally concealed
- secretConcealed information
- handlerOne who manages something
- debriefPost-mission questioning session
surveillance · intelligence · recruit · cultivate · wiretap · sting · investigation · testimony
Protected from harm
- plea-bargainNegotiated guilty admission
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
indictment · case · arrest · conviction · sentencing · proffer · debriefing
Insider who reports misconduct
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- justiceFair treatment under law
- accountabilityObligation for one's actions
disclosure · betrayal · loyalty · trust · expose · transparency · reform · truth-telling
State of being unprotected
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- anonymityUnknown identity state
- dangerExposure to harm
- compromisedMade vulnerable to harm
assassination · payback · vendetta · safety · relocation · threat · discovered
Concealed from authorities
- dead-dropCovert message transfer location
- signalMessage-conveying cue
- rendezvousScheduled meeting at agreed location
- codedConverted to symbols
encrypted · compartmentalized · need-to-know · cutout · legend · exfiltration
snitch
One who tells authorities
stoolie · squealer · nark · fink · canary · tattletale · grass · source · witness · cooperator
undercover
Secretly engaged in espionage
debrief · surveillance · intelligence · recruit · cultivate · wiretap · sting · investigation · testimony · evidence
immunity
Protected from harm
- plea-bargainNegotiated guilty admission
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
evidence · indictment · case · arrest · conviction · sentencing · proffer · debriefing
whistleblower
Insider who reports misconduct
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- justiceFair treatment under law
accountability · disclosure · betrayal · loyalty · trust · expose · transparency · reform · truth-telling · testimony
exposure
State of being unprotected
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- anonymityUnknown identity state
- dangerExposure to harm
compromised · assassination · payback · vendetta · safety · relocation · threat · discovered
clandestine
Concealed from authorities
- dead-dropCovert message transfer location
- signalMessage-conveying cue
- rendezvousScheduled meeting at agreed location
coded · encrypted · compartmentalized · need-to-know · cutout · legend · exfiltration
- espionagespy, spies, double agent, double agents, spying
- drug enforcementDEA, drug bust, narcotics, drug raid, interdiction
- Informerssnitch, fink, squealer, narc, stool pigeon
- Sting Operationssting operation, undercover, bust, decoy, bait
- crime investigationdetective, whodunit, investigation, detectives, investigator
- hidden identitiesanonymous, anonymity, pseudonym, alias, incognito
confidential informantundercover agent
Covert infiltrator gathering intelligence
special agent · FBI agent · federal agent · police detective · detective
confide, confiding, confident, confidence, confidant, confidante, confidently, confidential, confidentiality