Florida Senate - 2009                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 604
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 569344                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
                                       .                                
                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             04/28/2009 10:40 AM       .                                
       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————




       —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
       Senator Lawson moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 126 - 211
    4  and insert:
    5         (c)Provide a person who is requested to serve as a
    6  confidential informant with an opportunity to consult with legal
    7  counsel upon request before the person agrees to perform any
    8  activities as a confidential informant. However, this section
    9  does not create a right to publicly funded legal counsel unless
   10  it is to determine the expectancy of or bargain for the
   11  perspective confidential informant of what value, inducements,
   12  or effects such assistance shall or shall not have a legal or
   13  equitable benefit to him or her for the assistance.
   14         (d)Ensure that all personnel who are involved in the use
   15  or recruitment of confidential informants are trained in the law
   16  enforcement agency’s policies and procedures. The agency shall
   17  keep documentation demonstrating the date of such training.
   18         (e)Adopt policies and procedures that assign the highest
   19  priority in operational decisions and actions to the
   20  preservation of the safety of confidential informants, law
   21  enforcement personnel, target offenders, and the public.
   22         (4)A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   23  informants shall establish policies and procedures addressing
   24  the recruitment, control, and use of confidential informants.
   25  The policies and procedures must be uniform throughout the state
   26  in collaboration with the Attorney General and the Department of
   27  Law Enforcement and state the:
   28         (a)Information that the law enforcement agency shall
   29  maintain concerning each confidential informant;
   30         (b)General guidelines for handling confidential
   31  informants;
   32         (c)Process to advise a confidential informant of
   33  conditions, restrictions, and procedures associated with
   34  participating in the agency’s investigative or intelligence
   35  gathering activities;
   36         (d)Designated supervisory or command-level review and
   37  oversight in the use of a confidential informant;
   38         (e)Limits or restrictions on off-duty association or
   39  social relationships by agency personnel involved in
   40  investigative or intelligence gathering with confidential
   41  informants;
   42         (f)Guidelines to deactivate confidential informants,
   43  including guidelines for deactivating communications with
   44  confidential informants; and
   45         (g)Level of supervisory approval required before a
   46  juvenile is used as a confidential informant.
   47         (5)A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   48  informants shall establish policies and procedures that are
   49  uniform throughout the state in collaboration with the Attorney
   50  General and the Department of Law Enforcement to assess the
   51  suitability of using a person as a confidential informant by
   52  considering the minimum following factors:
   53         (a)The person’s age and maturity;
   54         (b)The risk the person poses to adversely affect a present
   55  or potential investigation or prosecution;
   56         (c)The effect upon agency efforts that the disclosure of
   57  the person’s cooperation in the community may have;
   58         (d)Whether the person is a substance abuser or has a
   59  history of substance abuse or is in a court-supervised drug
   60  treatment program;
   61         (e)The risk of physical harm to the person, or to his or
   62  her immediate family or close associates, as a result of
   63  providing information or assistance or upon disclosure to the
   64  community of the person’s assistance;
   65         (f)Whether the person has shown any indication of
   66  emotional instability, unreliability, or furnishing false
   67  information;
   68         (g)The person’s criminal history or prior criminal record;
   69  and
   70         (h)Whether the use of the person is important or vital to
   71  the success of an investigation.
   72         (6)A law enforcement agency that uses confidential
   73  informants shall establish written security procedures that are
   74  uniform throughout the state in collaboration with the Attorney
   75  General and the Department of Law Enforcement which, at a
   76  minimum:
   77         (a)Provide for the secured retention of any records
   78  related to the law enforcement agency’s confidential sources,
   79  including access to files identifying the identity of
   80  confidential sources;
   81         (b)Limit availability to records relating to confidential
   82  informants to those within the law enforcement agency or law
   83  enforcement community having a need to know or review those
   84  records, or to those whose access has been required by court
   85  process or order;
   86         (c)Require the notation of each person who accesses such
   87  records and the date that the records are accessed;
   88         (d)Provide for review and oversight by the law enforcement
   89  agency to ensure that the security procedures are followed; and
   90         (e)Define the process by which records concerning a
   91  confidential informant may be lawfully destroyed.
   92         (7)A state or local law enforcement agency that uses
   93  confidential informants shall perform a periodic review of its
   94  actual practices regarding confidential informants which are
   95  uniform throughout the state in collaboration with the Attorney
   96  General and the Department of Law Enforcement in order to ensure
   97  conformity with the agency’s policies and procedures and this
   98  section.
   99         (8)Any law enforcement agency not compliant with the
  100  policies or procedures of this section shall be subject to
  101  sanctions or penalties as adopted by rule of the Office of the
  102  Attorney General under the Florida Administrative Code or
  103  prescribed by general law.
  104         (9)The provisions of this section and policies and
  105  procedures adopted pursuant to this section do not grant any
  106  right or entitlement to a confidential informant or a person who
  107  is requested to be a confidential informant subject to a cause
  108  of action against state and local entities and agencies in
  109  equity of law under s. 86 or s. 768.28.
  110  
  111  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  112         And the title is amended as follows:
  113         Delete line 26
  114  and insert:
  115         confidential informants; providing that noncompliant
  116         law enforcement agencies are subject to sanctions or
  117         penalties; providing that the act does