MK Occupy Minnesota
May 3, 2012 8:41 AM   Subscribe

"The report indicates 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 seduced prospective participants with drugs. The study has been ongoing since early last month."

A 35-minute video, titled "MK Occupy Minnesota: Drugs & the DRE Program at Peavey Plaza," documents allegations that Minnesota law enforcement officers provided drugs to people hanging out in a downtown Minneapolis park in exchange for their participation in a drug impairment study.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune documents reactions from Minneapolis police, the State Patrol, and Minneapolis city council member Cam Gordon.

In a forum post, Gordon provided further details on the allegations against police: "One of the people who testified there appeared to be under or close to the age of 18 and reported about how he was recruited, transported, given illegal drugs and asked to used them in a secluded location by government employed public safety employees.

Last night, I was called by a concerned mother who was very upset because her son had been given free drugs by a police officer when he went out to participate in what he thought would be social action in a public plaza to help improve his community and country. She was shocked to learn from her son later that police gave her son illegal drugs and asked him to use them, indicating that it was okay and that it was part of a police program."
posted by punishinglemur (23 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
So much for an Institutional Review Board.
posted by vitabellosi at 8:45 AM on May 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


So, the allegation is that the police drugged people to then use to test police officers who were learning how to identify people who were drugged?

No credible evidence for this yet, of course, but the FPP makes this sound like an academic study gone wrong, which isn't the allegation.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:51 AM on May 3, 2012


This is bizarre.

But then again, apparently they're handing out free dugs about a mile away from me so . um . bye.
posted by Think_Long at 8:54 AM on May 3, 2012 [28 favorites]


This would neverhappen to a real, professional stoner. They don't wander downtown high.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:05 AM on May 3, 2012


Don't... take drugs... from the police?

Do I really have to say that?
posted by rusty at 9:15 AM on May 3, 2012 [8 favorites]


Getting high with a cop? That shit ain't right.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:19 AM on May 3, 2012


First hand experience with this last summer:

We're in a downtown alley after work having some brews with the bike shop guys and a squad car rolls up with two nice lady police officers. Cheerily they ask us if we'd like to volunteer to get loaded and be observed. One of my friends accepts and hops in the back of the squad car. About an hour or two later he gets dropped off with a 12 pack in hand, apparently they'd gotten him stoned & drunk in an effort to identify his outward appearance & demeanor under the influence.

yup.
posted by djseafood at 9:20 AM on May 3, 2012 [17 favorites]


Amazing that none of the people who participated realized they could turn around and sue the state for millions of dollars.
posted by miyabo at 9:27 AM on May 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


I would just have my friend video me passing the chronic back and forth with one of these officers and then.... free pot for life!
posted by gagglezoomer at 9:47 AM on May 3, 2012


As far as the Occupy piece goes - I know some of the folks who made it. One of them is very reliable, politically. I've learned to pay a lot of attention to him because he has a really good eye. He's an excitable fellow who can rant a bit and wave his hands around, but I have known him for years and he's broken a number of meaningful local stories. I have no independent way to judge the accuracy of the video, but it's coming from someone I've seen to be honest.
posted by Frowner at 9:52 AM on May 3, 2012 [3 favorites]


(I mean, there's nothing wrong with the others - I just know the one guy pretty well.)
posted by Frowner at 9:53 AM on May 3, 2012


What, Nye's at closing time doesn't give you enough impaired people to observe?
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 10:13 AM on May 3, 2012 [4 favorites]


(For a while I had to walk up Nicollet early every morning to catch the bus. There were passed-out people on the sidewalk at least a few times a week, when it wasn't snowy. The police pick them up and put them in detox vans before the office workers arrive.)
posted by miyabo at 10:17 AM on May 3, 2012


This my beat, too (Hi MN Mefites!). Frankly, this isn't too surprising. An acquaintance (who was a dealer) got his most redonkulous hookups from a police sergeant. Yeah, whoa.
{derail}For those in the Twin Cities area, check out E-democracy. It's an awesome little forum for your neighborhood.
Disclaimer/invite: I have drinks with the guy that runs the site about once a month. If you're around Busters on 28th tonight, MeMail me and join us around 8.30pm (I think). {/derail}
posted by mfu at 11:01 AM on May 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


The video was excellent. Long, but really worth watching when you've got ten minutes.

Getting high with a cop? That shit ain't right.

You know how when you're in college and you live near New York City you've inevitably got some friend who wants to go party in Times Square? In '98/'99 my BFF and I packed a backpack full of sandwiches and hot chocolate, put on seventeen layers of clothing, and hoofed it to Midtown by 4 p.m., early enough to get a prime spot right in front of the barricade up where Dick Clark was doing his thing.

A bunch of other revelers shared their "lemonade" with us, but the main event of the night was one of the cops who was working the barricade. He and I flirted outrageously, thanks to the lemonade, and we kissed at midnight. Then he invited my BFF and me back to his place to smoke some weed. We were sketched out (umm, hello implied threesome) and would probably have said no anyway, but when he told us he also had "snow," we knew for sure we weren't interested. We were nerd-snobs. Whereas a true party girl might have been excited to snort coke off a cop's body, I considered the kiss at midnight a big enough deviation that it qualified as a shocking and hilarious tale to take back to school.

But yeah. Probably don't get high with a cop. Although it shouldn't surprise anyone that sometimes cops want to get high with you. I mean, really. What did you think they did with the confiscated drugs?

posted by brina at 11:39 AM on May 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Cops have the best drugs.
posted by telstar at 11:41 AM on May 3, 2012


That's so fucked up I don't even know where to begin.

If they were giving people drugs, then arresting them, that would be pretty fucked up. But giving people drugs so that you can arrest them and then perform scientific experiments on them!?

Crazy.
posted by delmoi at 12:16 PM on May 3, 2012


Wait, they didn't arrest people, just offered them drugs? Like went up to people and gave them drugs? What? How is that even remotely... legal? The mind boggles.
posted by delmoi at 1:02 PM on May 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


delmoi: "How is that even remotely... legal?"

Assumes facts not in evidence.
posted by wierdo at 1:32 PM on May 3, 2012 [1 favorite]


If they are having difficulty finding people high so they can learn what people look like when they are high, maybe they need to focus on fighting real crime?
posted by Maias at 5:19 PM on May 3, 2012


I was in downtown Minneapolis today and didn't get any free drugs. I have the worst luck.
posted by padraigin at 8:39 PM on May 3, 2012 [2 favorites]


Why the hell would you take free drugs, especially from strangers, especially from cops?

I know, dumb question but still, it's like taking something edible from a stranger. Um no thanks. At the very least, think of their germy hands!
posted by stormpooper at 10:14 AM on May 4, 2012


When I was in college I was in a cop run drinking and driving demonstration. I was the only one on our floor that was of legal drinking age (lived in the dorms). They had me gauging reaction times by hitting a pedal every time a light went red. When it was green you took you foot off. They measured the time it took to hit the pedal.

I drank a lot back then and played a lot of video games. They got me well over the legal limit before they were able to get me "impaired."

Doing vodka shots for the police was surreal.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:26 AM on May 5, 2012


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