£250,000... that's how much the region's police paid informants over last three years

Their details cloaked in secrecy, they are a source of crucial insider information for the police in the fight against organised crime.

Paid informants – as depicted by supergrass Huggy Bear in 1970s American television series Starsky & Hutch – have for years been used by detectives to steal the upper hand on villains.

And Avon and Somerset police, which spent close to £250,000 rewarding informants in the last three years, insist their help is important as ever in the battle against crime.

The Post can reveal that in the financial year to April, £81,320.49 was spent by the force "on the obtaining of information to combat crime".

Informants, now known as Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS), were paid £70,851.63 in 2006/7 and £92,641.72 in 2007/08, making a total of £244,813.84.

Police refused to reveal how many informants they paid each year.

Detective chief inspector Mike Carter said: "For us it's a very valuable and cost-effective way of finding out important information the police, and the general public, do not have access to.

"Paying informants is an established means of obtaining information that's gone on for many years.

"We are acting within Government legislation and there is a strict selection process in terms of who will become an informant.

"Decisions are not taken lightly. It's a very serious business and it is all very well regulated.

"For us to get information about serious, organised crime, the best way can sometimes be to utilise the people who are closest to those criminals."

As well as organised crime and drugs gangs, informants can be used to help out with burglaries, vehicle crime, or to trace a wanted person, such as Hannah Saaf, 27, who is being sought in connection with the hit-and-run death of 11-year-old Sam Riddall in Westbury-on-Trym last week.

Mr Carter said the amount of money an informant gets can range from less than £100 to several thousand pounds if he or she provides information that leads to a significant conviction.

"It's got to be fruitful information; we deal on similar lines to organisations like Crimewatch," added Mr Carter.

"Money is usually paid when someone is charged or convicted.

"It's very much on a case by case basis. What you have to remember is that these people can be putting their necks on the line. They will use the relationship they might have built up over a long time with a certain person."

The figures obtained using a Freedom of Information request do not include payments made by other agencies, including the security services.

Avon and Somerset police do not spend as much as some other forces.

The Metropolitan Police, which covers Greater London, spends about £2 million per year.

Devon and Cornwall police, which covers a larger area but similar sized population as Avon and Somerset, has paid more than £300,000 over three years.

In 2007/8 alone, £156,048 was paid to informants by West Yorkshire police, whose patch includes Leeds.

Police in Norfolk forked out almost £100,000 in 2008/9.