Claire Wolfe - Rats! Your guide to protecting yourself against snitches, informers, informants, agents provocateurs, narcs, finks, and similar vermin

Rats! Your guide to protecting yourself against snitches, informers, informants, agents provocateurs, narcs, finks, and similar vermin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

That mouthful means that it is okay to copy and distribute this booklet for non-commercial purposes as long as you attribute it to the original source . Feel free. Go for it. Have at it. Spread the word.

On the other hand, you may not alter or add to the text in any way .

And you may not reproduce or distribute any part of this work for commercial purposes , period. Do not do either of those things .

I intended to acknowledge the dozens of people who contributed to this book. Given its touchy subject matter, I figured I'd use only their online nyms, not real names. But, sadly, almost everyone I asked responded, "Don't mention me!"

Such is the nature of the police state.

So the only contributors credited anywhere in the book are those who wrote items especially for this project or whose comments on my blog, Living Freedom (backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/) I reprinted here. Their nyms appear with their contributions.

Despite the lack of credits, this book was truly a collaborative project. Contributors included lawyers, former cops, security specialists, political activists, members of the drug culture, business executives in "sensitive" fields, outlaw bikers, and in a couple of cases people whose identities are so deeply secret that I couldn't credit them even if I wanted to. (To guard against the possibility of any snitch sympathizer planting misleading information, outlaws, former snitch victims, and lawyers checked the text after more "official" folk had their say. I'm relieved to state that, while many people added valuable information as the book grew, nobody in this very experienced crowd spotted anything false or suspiciously "coppish.")

Contributors came from all walks of life from the ultra-respectable to the underground. All shared the same goal of helping non-violent people save themselves from snitches and hopefully, someday ending the corrupt and evil "snitch culture." Once I pulled the book together with all that help, an anonymous proofreader and a friendly layout artist took it from there. There are two people I am allowed to credit: cover designer Keith Perkins and illustrator Travis Halverson, whose "no rattin'" drawing you'll find at the end of the book.

Each and every contributor was a volunteer. This book couldn't have happened without them.

You are a non-violent person engaged in any activity that may be controversial, illegal, or merely "sensitive" or unconventional. These days, anything out of the ordinary can make you a target.

Some people who could use this book:

• Anti-war or environmental activists
• Recreational drug users
• Participants in the underground economy or anybody who does business in cash
• Critics of local or national powers-that-be
• Anyone whose profession involves "sensitive" information or activities
• Gun owners or dealers
• Third-party or "fringe" political activists
• Hobbyists who work with dangerous materials
• Photographers/videographers
• Religious dissidents
• People with offshore or unconventional investments (including perfectly legitimate ones)

It doesn't matter where you fall in the political spectrum or even if you're apolitical. If police might target you or your activities, you need to understand how snitches could mess up your life.

You aim to commit violence against innocent people. In that case, reporting on you isn't snitching, it's self defense.

There are a lot of different types of snitches. We could write an encyclopedia defining them. But we're going to keep this simple.

For purposes of the book, a snitch is anybody who inserts him- or herself into your non-violent activities on behalf of government. "Government" may mean local cops. It could also mean the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, or a host of other state or federal agencies. It's absolutely mind-boggling how many seemingly innocuous agencies these days have arrest powers, armed enforcers and snitches employed in sneaky sting operations. And thousands of them use snitches.

There are two common categories of snitch you need to look out for:

The infiltrator/agent provocateur. This is someone (often a professional) who is inserted into a group for an active purpose, such as disrupting the group, or worst, talking formerly innocent (or at least formerly non-violent) people into committing crimes in order to bust them. Agents provocateurs may, among other things, try to turn non-violent protest into violent action, thus discrediting movements, giving excuses for crackdowns, and giving more publicity and power to government agencies.

The informer/informant. This snitch is often a legitimate member of a group or social circle who continues to be active while giving information to the police. This person may be acting under duress (to save his own skin after being arrested, for instance). This person may be hoping the cops will pay with money, drugs, or ongoing criminal immunity for her dubious "services." While this person isn't necessarily a professional agent provocateur, he may nevertheless try to talk friends into committing crimes so he can get more credibility or rewards from his police handlers.

These aren't the only types of snitches. For example, there's also what we'll call the "accidental snitch" though idiot snitch might be more appropriate. This is the person who simply can't keep her mouth shut about illegal or controversial activities. Cops love these guys! They don't even have to threaten them, pay them, hire them, train them, or gain any leverage over them. They just sit back and listen to them reveal secrets.

Then there's the type of snitch the British call a grass and old American gangsters might have called a stool pigeon . This is a person who blabs to cops or other government agents after you (and probably he) have already been arrested. This person isn't going to interfere with your activities; that's already been done. He's "only" going to give sworn affidavits and courtroom testimony against you, justifying it as a means of saving his own skin. There's not much you can do about this person. By the time you learn one of your former friends is a "stoolie," it's too late.

There are vengeance snitches people who turn on friends and associates after having a falling out or not getting their way. There are jailhouse snitches either deliberately planted in your cell after you've been arrested or just opportunists who happen to be there and are willing to share whatever you say (or make up lies about things you said).

Each and every one of these people is a betrayer of friendship and trust. All of them are just plain rats and they're as welcome in the company of good people as rats are in a pantry.

To keep things simple we're going to call them all snitches though we'll differentiate when we need to help you look out for specific problems.

Snitches are everywhere and their use is growing . In many cases, genuine police investigations into actual crimes are almost a thing of the past. Government agents just round up some snitches, get them to lie or arm-twist them into spying and voila! an instant and easy case against virtually anyone they want to target. Sometimes they get everything they need from some anonymous person who makes false accusations via a tips hotline.