South narcotics officer Sean Johnstone arrested for illegally providing drugs or money to their confidential informants

Last September, Brooklyn South narcotics officer Sean Johnstone told a fellow officer that he had paid his confidential informants with cocaine illegally seized from a crime scene. What Johnstone didn't realize, or had forgotten, was that his conversation was being recorded.The ensuing internal police investigation has resulted in an embarrassing spectacle for the New York City Police Department and the Brooklyn South narcotics division, which includes Park Slope, Midwood and Coney Island and made 7,400 arrests in 2007. Four officers, including Johnstone, were arrested for illegally providing drugs or money to their confidential informants, while another dozen were suspended or transferred to other duties. The disclosures forced the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office to dismiss charges or vacate convictions in 183 cases, and a new commanding officer was appointed to run the department's narcotics unit.The revelations focused attention, if only briefly, on the murky world of police and their informants. While giving informants drugs is clearly illegal, a far more contentious debate involves the use of confidential informants even when proper police procedures are being followed. Civil libertarians and legal scholars argue that the practice leads to false convictions, shoddy police work and an erosion of trust in high-crime, low-income communities. On the other hand, experienced prosecutors and police officers contend that, however distasteful the practice, informants are an invaluable investigative tool and that suggestions for reform would limit the effectiveness of the police while having the unintended effect of driving the officer-informant relationship further underground.
The scandal has given renewed life to legislation introduced last year by Brooklyn State Assemblymember Joseph Lentol, which would require law enforcement agencies to publicly disclose information about the use and effectiveness of confidential informants. The legislation would also limit the ability of prosecutors to drop or reduce certain types of charges in exchange for informant information.