Anonymous Informant or Crimestoppers Tip

This is an outline designed to be used as a checklist to assist the user in drafting an affidavit for a search warrant when information from an anonymous tip, including a Crimestoppers tip, is used as a basis for probable cause. It is always best to provide as many items as possible.

Provide reasons to believe the informant is telling the truth.
(Always provide information under both A and B)
1. Provide the details of the tip.
  1. State the source of the tip (phone call, face-to-face, letter).
  2. State the substance of the tip.
  3. State who received the tip.
  4. State when the tip was received:
    1. Give exact date and time, or
    2. State the tip was received within a certain number of hours, days, weeks, of the application for search warrant.
2. ANDEstablish that the substance of the tip was corroborated by police investigation. (Provide as many of the following as possible)
  1. Establish what details were corroborated.
  2. Establish how the details were corroborated.
  3. Establish that the corroborated details are facts not readily available to any member of the public, and that the details indicate the informant’s inside knowledge.
  4. Establish that details of the tip predicted behavior or events that did in fact occur.
  5. Provide information required when source is police investigation or report
    – see relevant outlines.
Establish the basis of the informant’s knowledge of the information.
1. Establish that the informant knows the information through his own personal observation.
  1. Describe the informant’s observations (what informant observed, and where and how informant observed it).
  2. Establish when the informant made his observations.
    1. Provide the exact date and time, or
    2. Establish that the observation was made within a certain number of hours, days or weeks prior to the application for search warrant.
2. ORDescribe details of the informant’s tip that are corroborated by police investigation.
  1. If the information is not based on the anonymous informant’s personal observations, corroborated details must be indicative of criminal activity or behavior and events predicted by the informant
  2. If information from police investigation or other informants is used to corroborate the anonymous informant’s tip, provide the information required for that source – see relevant outlines.

Provide reasons to believe the informant is telling the truth.

The veracity of an informant who provides information anonymously, including through a Crimestoppers tip, must be established.¹ There is no presumption of reliability.

An anonymous tip must be sufficiently corroborated before it can provide probable cause for issuance of a warrant.² Such corroboration could come from independent information or observations of the police. Corroboration is not sufficient if it consists only of innocent information which is readily available to any member of the public.³ Particularly persuasive and helpful is corroboration of facts indicative of criminal activity, or corroboration that some behavior and events predicted by the informant actually occured.⁴ The affidavit should set forth in detail what facts were corroborated, and what steps were taken to corroborate them.

Establish the basis of the informant’s knowledge of the information.

The affidavit must establish the basis of the informant’s knowledge, providing sufficient information to allow the magistrate judge to evaluate whether the information was gathered in a reliable way.⁵Personal observation by the informant provides a sufficient basis of knowledge.⁶ The affidavit should set forth when and how the informant made the observations clearly enough to show they are based on the informant’s first-hand knowledge rather than mere rumor (e.g., the informant saw X, the informant heard X); a conclusory statement that the informant “had personal knowledge” is not sufficient.⁷ However, even without an explicit statement of the informant’s basis of knowledge, an affidavit may be sufficient if it describes the criminal activity in such detail to allow a reasonable inference that the informant had obtained the information in a reliable way and was not relying on mere rumor or on the suspect’s general reputation.⁸ Moreover, the affidavit may establish the informant’s basis of knowledge through police corroboration of details of the informant’s tip. Just as corroboration of details to establish the informant’s veracity must corroborate facts not readily available to the general public, so must corroboration to establish the informant’s basis of knowledge.⁹

ENDNOTES

1 State v. Therrien, 1990-NMCA-060, ¶¶ 8-10, 110 N.M. 261, 794 P.2d 735.

2See State v. Contreras, 2003-NMCA-129, ¶ 5, 134 N.M. 503, 79 P.3d 1111 (citing Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 255, 270 (2000) and requiring corroboration of an anonymous tip to establish reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop of a vehicle).

3 Therrien, 1990-NMCA-129, ¶¶ 8-10.

4 State v. Flores, 1996-NMCA-059, ¶¶ 8-10, 122 N.M. 84, 920 P.2d 1038 (reasonable suspicion for stop); State v. Bedolla, 1991-NMCA-002, ¶ 16, 111 N.M. 448, 806 P.2d 588 (same) (citing Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325 (1990)).

5 In re Shon Daniel K., 1998-NMCA-069, ¶ 9.

6 State v. Lujan, 1998-NMCA-032, ¶¶ 8-12, 124 N.M. 494; State v. Barker, 1992-NMCA-117, ¶ 5, 114 N.M. 589, 844 P.2d 839.

7 State v. Baca, 1982-NMSC-016, ¶ 16, 97 N.M. 379, 640 P.2d 485.

8 Id., ¶ 13; Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 416-17 (1969).

9 Baca, 1982-NMSC-016, ¶¶ 15-16.