credit – CUAPD (communities united against police brutality), indymedia twincities, roguemedia.org, and occupy minneapolis who are all awesome.

Update since this article/video first aired on the interwebs ::  Pending Further investigation by the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) the DRE program has been suspended in Minnesota.

Local independent media, activists, and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs.  We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.

Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they’d been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.

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Last May, WCCO reported DRE as an innovative training program for law enforcement agents in which they recruited individuals who were already impaired on drugs to test and observe the effects of those drugs minnesota.cbslocal.com. This program, which trains Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) was portrayed in glowing terms and the article emphasized the subjects recruited were already drug-impaired.

On its website, the State Patrol provides this training description:“DRE training consists of nine days of classroom work, where officers learn about specific drug categories, physiology, and enhance their SFST [standardized field sobriety testing] skills. Following the classroom training, DRE candidates must complete certification training, where they perform 12 evaluations on drug-impaired subjects. These evaluations will be monitored and verified by DRE instructors and the BCA Lab. Certification training generally takes 2–3 weeks.”

dps.mn.gov

Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.

Although program documents indicate that participants must sign a waiver, dps.mn.gov there was no indication from any of the participants interviewed that a waiver was offered or obtained. Further, video footage seems to validate the recollections of participants that no medical personnel or ambulance were on site during the observation and testing in Richfield. A DRE officer told one of our investigators that no Institutional Review Board assessment of the program has been made, a requirement of all experiments involving human subjects. Since it’s unethical to encourage people to take drugs–whether by giving them drugs directly or enticing them with food, cigarettes, or other rewards (which participants say they were given)–it is unlikely such a program would pass IRB review as it endangers the test subjects.

According to the WCCO article, officer trainees in the past have worked with various non-profit organizations to recruit drug users. It would appear now that they are no longer relying solely on this tactic, instead recruiting users directly and, participants say, providing them with drugs. After the sessions, these individuals are then dropped off in public areas without supportive care, creating a public safety hazard. In an example at Peavey Plaza caught on film, an individual who said he’s been smoking courtesy of the police for an hour, crossed a line of Minneapolis police barricades, climbed to the top of a large sign and sat 15 feet above the sidewalk swinging his arms and legs in front of a police camera.

Our investigation points to particular efforts to target and recruit youth. Further, law enforcement officers have been taped recruiting people from the Peavey Plaza area of Nicollet Mall and have dropped off a number of impaired individuals at Peavey Plaza. In some instances, Minneapolis police squad cars were present while DRE trainees recruited people at Peavey Plaza. After receiving drugs, some subjects were asked to snitch on the Occupy movement or asked about various people and activities of Occupy, they said. Given efforts by the Minneapolis city council to pass an ordinance designed to restrict access to Peavey Plaza by the Occupy movement, the conduct of DRE trainees points to the possibility that they are working hand-in-glove with Minneapolis police to discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.

“I think most people would be very surprised to have our tax dollars used to get people high,” states Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “These activities call into question the methods and motives of this DRE training.”

1- no medical professionals are on site while this is going on

2- there is no review board, or independent oversight of this program to ensure people’s safety

3- the police are admittedly dropping off people they have just tested and confirmed were intoxicated in public…

When this was released there was a hearing in the Minneapolis City Council to decide the future of Peavey Plaza. They were trying to use evidence police had of people intoxicated on Peavey Plaza to create a new rule saying people could not be on the plaza after 10 or 12 pm..

There was a brood of slumlords and private corporate interests there to speak out about how vile and despicable the people on Peavey Plaza were and that it was a public nuisance that must be eliminated.

Meanwhile,  every single citizen that stood up to speak talked about how opening up public space for a dialog among the people within the community was the best thing that had ever happened to the human race.

To end it all,  the man with the afro in this video stood up and told city council exactly what was happening in this video as it had happened to him.  A member of city council had recieved a phone call the night before from a concerned mom,  who said that police had given her son drugs and she was very concerned about how her government was being run.

Police did indeed give Occupiers free pot, new evidence suggests; DRE program suspendedblogs.citypages.com

::Update since this story was run::  Apparently at least one officer has come forward  and tried to railroad a Hutchinson Officer as the sole perpetrator of this offense.  Our investigation seems to point to this as being a systemic problem,  and that painting one single officer who was only doing as he was told is not the solution.  It is quite clear from the video that all of the officers felt very uncomfortable being on film as they knew what they were doing was wrong.  One officer from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office clearly says, “we don’t need to get in trouble for anything.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan {who is reported to have been at a national conference of the International association of chief’s of police during this documentary, IACP, who are the private organization behind this program} said the city’s {minneapolis’} police force had no part in the training. Elsewhere in City Hall, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak expressed outrage in a statement Wednesday.  This statement from Dolan comes in stark contrast to the fact that last may WCCO ran an article that highlighted the benefits of this program and that Minneapolis PD was involved, and had more than 1 officer involved in the training.  It is clearly seen in the video that a Minneapolis Police cruiser is escorting the out-of-town sheriff vehicle away from Peavey Plaza.

Based on the preliminary findings of our investigation, we make the following demands:

1) An investigation into the training and recruitment methods of the DRE program, along with an identification of the sources of drugs being given to recruits and the source of funding for those drugs. Public release of any written protocols regarding recruitment, treatment and release of impaired subjects, along with policies on the presence of medical personnel.  An investigation into what—if any—oversight exists of these training programs and their use of human subjects, including any controls, standards of conduct, or oversight bodies.  A ban on participation by the Minneapolis police in the DRE program until it is fully investigated.

2) An immediate change in practice so that only already-impaired people are used for training and an end to the practice of providing drugs or offering them to entice subjects.  An immediate change in practice so that subjects are only released to a safe and supportive environment

3) An investigation into possible ties between DRE trainees and the Minneapolis police department and any efforts to discredit the Occupy movement.  Immediate cessation of efforts to recruit and drop off impaired people at Peavey Plaza.  An end to all efforts by government and law enforcement to defame, disrupt, or discredit protest movements in a way that decreases the safety of public gathering spaces.

4) An end to the Johnson Resolution and other efforts to block access to public plazas.  It is blatant hypocrisy for the city to advance these kinds of proposals supposedly for public health and safety while police programs endanger people in the same areas.

Activists and journalists intend to continue our investigation and demands for safety for the subjects of this training program along with an end to attacks on the Occupy movement.

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