New Haven Independent

The police department decided formally to close up the unit in the wake of the arrests this week of two of its members, including its chief, Lt. Billy White, on bribery and theft charges stemming from an FBI sting. More arrests are expected.

In addition to disbanding the unit, Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the department’s internal affairs division would undergo a thorough review of all personnel as well as cases the unit handled.

One big question for the public is whether any pending or previously closed criminal drug cases will be jeopardized by the revelation that unit members allegedly stole cash at crime scenes.

It turns out that few if any cases over the past years have included Billy White’s name as the arresting officer, according to one official familiar with the situation. That theoretically could limit the pool of contaminated cases. Given some controversial cases on White’s record, he would have potentially made a compromised witness in state court, where most of these cases go. Indeed, click here to read the questions White was asked, and the answers he gave, when he took the stand in a 1996 drug case in federal court. (Also check out Bill Kaempffer’s story mining White’s personnel file in Friday’s Register; it didn’t appear to be posted online.)

However, according to the official familiar with the situation, the second narcotics cop arrested this week (albeit on misdemeanor charges, unlike White), Justen Kasperzyk, does show up as arresting officer in some cases.

Meanwhile, back at 1 Union Ave., the department is dealing with the aftermath of the ongoing investigation — the rumors about who else will be arrested in the federal case, as well as how to conduct drug investigations.

Mayor John DeStefano noted Thursday that most of the drug cases in New Haven are handled by patrol cops working in concert with members of the state police’s narcotics task force. That will continue to be true, he said, so in his view there’s no need for a special unit in the city department devoted to narcotics work.

In fact, DeStefano argued, having a separate small specialized unit may be a detriment. He cited the short-lived ID-Net crew that conducted neighborhood sweeps this past year before it was disbanded amid concerns of a retreat from the city’s previous community-policing philosophy.

“Do [such] units develop cultures and practices that are inconsistent with the policies and practices of the department? The chief and I have talked about that,” DeStefano said. “One of the lessons of [the debacle with] the narcotics unit is to mainstream work through ISU [the detective division] and patrol.”