FBI Allowed Informants To Commit More Crimes In 2012 Than Year Before

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The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, D.C. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON -- The FBI allowed its informants to break the law at least 5,939 times last year, a 5 percent jump from 2011, according to a newly disclosed document.

In a Jan. 14, 2013, letter to Justice Department officials, obtained by The Huffington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request, FBI officials disclosed that its 56 field offices authorized informants to break the law at least 5,939 times during the 2012 calendar year. USA Today reported earlier this year that 

the bureau allowed its informants to break the law 5,658 times in 2011. read more