What do police call an informant?
Asked by: Prof. Reggie Borer | Last update: April 8, 2026Score: 4.2/5 (44 votes)
A police informant is officially called a Confidential Informant (CI), but they're also known by slang terms like snitch, rat, or grass, and can be referred to as a source or tipster. They are individuals who provide law enforcement with information about criminal activity, often in exchange for money or reduced charges.
What is a police informant called?
The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informants are officially known as confidential human sources (CHS), or criminal informants (CI). It can also refer pejoratively to someone who supplies information without the consent of the involved parties.
What's another name for an informant?
Common synonyms for "informant" include source, informer, tipster, witness, and spy, with more informal or slang terms like snitch, rat, stool pigeon, or canary used for someone who betrays others, while words like whistleblower or mole can describe insiders providing confidential data.
What is the slang word for informer?
An incredible amount of slang has been invented to say “informer” —snitch, fink, nark, stoolie, stool pigeon, blabbermouth, squeaker, squeak, and many more.
What is another term for a police informer?
canary, fink, sneak, sneaker, snitch, snitcher, stool pigeon, stoolie, stoolpigeon. someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police. copper's nark, nark. an informer or spy working for the police. grass, supergrass.
Arrogant Police Officer Pulls Over Black Fbi Agent and Regrets It
What is the slang word for undercover agent?
"Glowie" is often used in online forums to refer to undercover government agents that stand out and are conspicuous, especially undercover operatives who infiltrate online extremist spaces for the purpose of entrapment.
What is the grass slang for informant?
Grasser. One who gives information. A "squealer" or "squeaker". The origin derives from rhyming slang: grasshopper – copper; a "grass" or "grasser" tells the "copper" or policeman.
What is a better word for snitch?
Common synonyms for "snitch" (meaning to inform on someone) include informer, rat, fink, squealer, stoolie, canary, and tattletale, while the verb form can use tattle, tell on, leak, betray, or grass (UK slang). Other synonyms depend on the context, like informant, tipster, or whistleblower, or even stealing, as "snitch" can also mean to pilfer.
What are the three types of informants?
Law enforcement generally categorizes informants into three main types based on their motivation and involvement: Criminal/Confidential Informants (often seeking leniency for their own crimes), Citizen Informants (civic-minded individuals reporting wrongdoing), and sometimes Anonymous Informants (providing tips without revealing identity) or Police Officers themselves acting as sources, though the core distinction often revolves around the criminal vs. citizen divide, with criminals needing careful vetting for reliability.
What do you call a person who gathers information?
A researcher is someone who conducts research, i.e., an organized and systematic investigation into something.
What is CI in police?
In police and law enforcement, CI most commonly stands for Confidential Informant, a person who provides secret information about criminal activities to the police, often in exchange for money, reduced charges, or other benefits, acting as a crucial tool for undercover investigations. Less commonly, it can also refer to a Critical Incident, meaning a traumatic event like a violent confrontation or tragic accident that officers experience, affecting their mental health.
What is an informant in criminology?
Informants are also referred to as "justice collaborators" or they may be known as "cooperating witnesses" (UNODC, 2008). Most informants are criminals who cooperate with the police in exchange for a reduced charge, sentence, or immunity from prosecution, depending on the judicial system.
How much do cops pay informants?
Police Informant Salary
The median wage is $56.4K / yr. $71.8K is the 75th percentile. Wages above this are outliers.
What does OSC stand for in police?
The Office of Surveillance Commissioners (OSC) oversees the conduct of covert surveillance and covert human intelligence sources by public authorities in accordance with the Police Act 1997 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).
What is the slang for informant?
An incarcerated person who informs on other people in prison. Pigeon and stool pigeon were also terms for informers.
What is a primary informant?
Assessing Accuracy: Information from a primary informant as in someone who witnessed or. participated in the event is generally more accurate than information gleaned from a secondary informant as in someone who received the information secondhand.
What is a police informant?
A CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT IS A SECRET SOURCE WHO, THROUGH A CONTACT OFFICER, SUPPLIES INFORMATION ON CRIMINAL ACTIVITY TO THE POLICE OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT. THERE ARE BASICALLY TWO TYPES OF POLICE INVESTIGATION, REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE.
What's a good nickname for a snitch?
TATTLETALE
- squealer. Slang.
- fink. Slang.
- rat. Slang.
- stool pigeon. Slang.
- stoolie. Slang.
- ratfink. Slang.
- tattletale.
- tattler.
What is a fancy word for stealing?
Common synonyms for stealing include thieving, robbing, pilfering, embezzling, lifting, pinching, swiping, filching, and purloining, with many informal or specific terms like heisting, nicking, snitching, looting, plundering, ripping off, or appropriating, depending on the context (e.g., taking money, stealing from a store, or taking ideas).
What is a fancy word for tattletale?
The top listed synonyms include betrayer, informant, informer, rat, snitch, squealer, stool pigeon, and talebearer.
What does grasser mean in slang?
grasser (plural grassers) (British, slang) A grass; an informer.
What is a paid informant called?
Confidential informants, sometimes referred to as CI by the police, are often paid by the police for the information that they give to them. Some of these people may be facing charges of their own.
What are supergrasses?
A supergrass is a person who gives the police information about a large group of criminals. [British, informal] Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary.