Police Confidential Informants... good or bad?

Police departments all across the country are being attacked by groups who believe the war on drugs should stop. They are criticizing the way undercover detectives use “confidential informants” to apprehend people who sell and buy drugs. They do not believe police should use informants to do this. There recently was an informant murdered when she did not follow instructions in Tallahassee Fl during a drug bust. I learned about this on Good Morning America. (The video is posted on my blog) Here is a link: http://policefaq.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html
They are talking about how the girl should have been trained and Brian Ross (ABC investigative reporter for 20/20) is arguing with the chief of police. If she was trained she would not be an informant but a police officer, duh….
The drug world is tricky. It is surrounded with money, distrust, guns and violence. Those who are in this world are cautious (paranoid) of being caught and going to jail. This caution leads to difficulty for police to infiltrate the “trusted” circles. Here is where police informants come in. They are in these circles and able to go and do things police detectives cannot. The informant becomes an invaluable tool. Most are working off their own charges and benefit from aiding police. (Even more than the police benefit… I mean, the police aren’t going to jail at the end of the day but the informant might)
There are some who believe all drugs should be made legal. Some police even believe this. Remember this though; police officers have sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States and the laws of their state, county or city. As long as drugs are against the law the police are going to wage the war on drugs. This war is not fair and sometimes people get hurt. They can suffer from addiction, loss of family/friends, loss of freedom or tragically their life.