Minnesota
Police Reportedly Give Drugs To Occupy Protesters For 'Impairment
Study'
3
May, 2012
Occupy
protestors in Minnesota are alleging that police gave drugs to young
people as part of an 'impairment study' that helps officers identify
the symptoms of drug use.
In
a video (watch above), activists claim that for three weeks, law
enforcement officers have been picking up volunteers to participate
in a program called "Drug Recognition Expert."
The
footage shows alleged participants in the scheme, including one who
claims, "They [the police] come into downtown... and basically
pick up random people, and ask them to do drug evaluations."
The
man adds, "They let you smoke and then they send you back to
Occupy [demonstration in Peavy Plaza]. You smoke right in front of
them."
One
man featured in the video is seen discussing the scheme with another
who has apparently just returned from a police facility where the
training was taking place. The man says "Can I do it?" and
is then shown being introduced to officers by the supposed previous
participant, before getting into a Kanabec County Sherrif's
Department cruiser and leaving with officers.
Citypages.com
reports that police patrol downtown Minneapolis looking for impaired
people, then drive them to a testing facility in Richfield for
examination of their capabilities while intoxicated. But in some
cases where no previously impaired people could be found, police are
alleged to have seduced prospective participants with drugs.
People
in the video are seen discussing police officers giving them
marijuana to smoke for evaluation purposes. However, one subject also
said officers were interested in obtaining subjects already under the
influence of harder drugs.
He
says "One of them [police officers] told me "I'm looking
for something more harder [sic]. Someone to do meth or coke or
something like that."
Officers
are certified as Drug Recognition Experts as part of the Drug
Recognition Program. According to one Minnesota Sherrif's Department
website, the program is designed to help officers "better
recognize and remove drug impaired drivers from our roadways."
Working
with people under the influence of drugs is standard training for
officers being trained under the drug recognition program.
The
same website describes what DRE training entails:
Training
to be a DRE is difficult and extremely extensive. Many officers say
that it is the most difficult training that they have ever attended
(including their academy). The training consists of nine days of
classroom training. Here, you will learn about human physiology, the
12 step process, documentation of your observations, courtroom
testimony, medical conditions, indications of each specific drug
category, and enhance your SFST skills. Step 2 is certification
training. During this phase, the newly trained DREs will sharpen
their detection and interpretation skills on actual drug impaired
subjects. This portion of training was completed in Minneapolis, MN.
There are also several tests and quizzes during the process.
The
Drug Recognition Program began in the The Los Angeles Police
Department in the early 1970s and is widely in use throughout the
United States.
Minnesota
law enforcement has a history of reaching out to the drug-using
community for help with DRE training. CBS News reports that when the
State Patrol needed a real-life laboratory, the state's Needle
Exchange program — part of the Minnesota AIDS Project — lent a
hand.
The
organization put out an ad to its clients, many who used drugs. It
asked them to show up under the influence, and advertised that they
would receive rewards and incentives in return. Officers noted that
users were not offered money or any illegal incentives.
UPDATE:
Lieutenant Eric Roeske, Public Information Officer/Spokesperson for
the Minnesota State Patrol, denied the accusations. "It is
against our policies and against the law to provide people with any
sort any sort of illegal drugs or to allow them to use them in our
presence," he said. "We have found no evidence or
information that substantiated the allegations made in the video."
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