Four police officers in Brooklyn are under arrest in a case that involves paying informants not with cash or leniency but with the very drugs they craved, taken from the dealers who were arrested after the informants pointed them out. Al Baker reports that two of the officers were charged in an internal sting last week after another was caught on a department audio tape bragging about the practice in September, officials said. Prosecutors have moved to dismiss more than 80 criminal cases because the officers caught in the scandal were considered critical to successful prosecutions, law enforcement officials said, and the office of the Brooklyn district attorney is analyzing about 100 more potentially tainted cases. (See related graphic.)
A related article by William K. Rashbaum notes that since the days of Teddy Roosevelt, the New York City Police Department has faced problems with lax supervision in the early morning hours, when officers prone to corruption or laziness face few challenges, and even fewer commanders.
The Daily News reports that the scandal has “compromised more than 150 criminal cases in Brooklyn and could put drug dealers back on the streets,” and reports that a crack addict has told investigators she had sex with one of the arrested police officers, Jerry Bowens, 41. Officer Bowens has been charged with official misconduct, falsifying records and narcotics
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