Legal and Moral Aspects of Confidential Cooperation between Individuals and Law Enforcement Agencies

Abstract

The legislative regulation of using confidants in Ukraine, as well as the moral aspects of confidential cooperation between individuals and law enforcement agencies have been analyzed. Some reasons that contributed to the regulation of confidential cooperation at the legislative level have been revealed in the historical retrospective; the correlation of the terms of “assistance” and “cooperation” used in the operative and search legislation has been demonstrated. It has been substantiated that in the course of studying the activities of special forces of operative and search activity it is advisable to use a narrower term of “cooperation”, which reflects the specifics of the activity of such forces. The norms of not secret normative legal acts have been outlined, which enshrined the conceptual bases of work with confidants. The emphasis has been made on the need to regulate not only the rights of the confidants, but also their obligations. A comparative analysis of the society’s attitude to confidential cooperation in different countries has been conducted. The moral and ethical grounds for involving persons into confidential cooperation have been studied. The author has outlined the essential role of the ideological component in the work of the state apparatus, which influences the attitude of society to confidential cooperation. The interdependence of moral and legal aspects of confidential cooperation has been proved. It has been established that the involvement of persons, from a moral point of view, into confidential cooperation is determined by: the voluntary nature of such involvement; public duty; perception of appropriate cooperation as the assistance to the community for its proper functioning; compulsory use of confidants for the prevention and detection of latent crimes; counteracting aggressive protection of criminal interests; guaranteeing the public interests by saving the costs for law enforcement function, since the use of confidants is more financially effective than attracting additional law enforcement forces and means.