Editing Fritz Haarmann (section)

===Police informant===
Despite police knowledge that Haarmann was both a known criminal and a known homosexual,<ref name="Weimar p.50">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 50</ref>{{refn|group=n|Homosexuality was illegal and punishable by imprisonment in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.<ref name="Weimar p.50"/>}} he gradually began to establish a relationship with law enforcement as an [[Informant|informer]], largely as a means of redirecting the attention of the police from himself and his own criminal activities,<ref>Cannibalism: The Last Taboo! {{ISBN|978-1-859-58495-8}} p. 110</ref> and to facilitate his access to young males. By 1919,<ref name="ReferenceD">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 35</ref> Haarmann is known to have regularly patrolled Hanover station,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/butcher-hanover-article-1.300659|title=The Justice Story: The Butcher of Hanover|access-date=29 November 2017|newspaper=Daily News|date=18 October 2008}}</ref> and to have provided police with information relating to the city's extensive criminal network. With the cooperation of several police officials, Haarmann devised a ruse whereby he would offer to [[Fence (criminal)|fence]] or store stolen property at his premises, then pass this information to police, who would then raid his property at agreed times and arrest these contacts.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} pp. 50–51</ref> To remove any suspicion as to his treachery reaching the criminal fraternity, Haarmann himself would be arrested in these raids. Moreover, on numerous occasions, he is known to have performed [[citizen's arrest]]s upon commuters for offences such as travelling on forged documents. As a result of these activities, police began to rely on Haarmann as a reliable source of information regarding various criminal activities in Hanover, and he was allowed to patrol Hanover station largely at will.<ref>Cannibalism: The Last Taboo! {{ISBN|1-859-58495-0}} p. 110</ref>