Ask anyone in the bleary-eyed younger crowd milling around Peavey Plaza, an Occupy Minnesota hotbed in downtown Minneapolis, if it’s the cops that got ’em stoned and you just may get a resounding, if not blissfully confused, “…Yeah.”
In what’s either the most genius bit of coax-‘em-and-let-‘em-talk this side of Truth Serum, or just another bumbling kick in U.S. law enforcement’s unfortunate addiction to drug meddling, or both, officers from outside Minneapolis jurisdiction have apparently been trolling Peavey for weeks, now, luring curious occupiers and passers by into their cruisers. And if a video recently released by local activists and independent media is to believed, those who take the bait are being whisked away to an off-site facility where they’re reportedly presented a spread of illicit drugs.
Videos by VICE
It’s no sting. In this case the cops aren’t just cool with participants getting wrecked. If we’re to take the word of a growing number of participants and witnesses to the alleged bait ‘n bakes, getting duped / desperate civilians wrecked is the whole point: The cops, some activists are saying, offer up the goods gratis, at no apparent risk to the user’s criminal record, and all in the name of “evaluations.” Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Tony Baker.
OK, so it may sound a bit out there. But the operations could very well be linked to Minnesota’s Drug Recognition Evaluator program. Administered by the Minnesota State Patrol, the DRE trains law enforcement officials to sniff out all the telltale markers – full-moon pupils, odors, and the like – of various drugs in a continued effort to keep inebriated drivers off the road. And really, who wouldn’t back that? Good on you, Minnesota State Patrol.
But here’s where things get interesting. Speaking to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Lt. Eric Roeske says that the “typical procedure” behind DRE activities is to pick up, and then observe, people “who are already intoxicated.” The activists, of course, are calling bullshit, claiming that it’s the police who are providing the drugs, namely weed. And they say they’ve got the footage and interviews to back it all up.
Read the rest over at Motherboard.
