Low-Tech Solutions To High-Tech Tyranny

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/24/2012 10:09 -0400 Guest Post Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market

Disclaimer:  The following is a series of fictional accounts of theoretical situations.  However, the information contained within was taken from established scientific journals on covered technology and military studies of real life combat scenarios.  Alt-Market does not condone the use of any of the tactics described within for “illegal” purposes.  Obviously, the totalitarian subject matter portrayed here is “pure fantasy”, and would never be encountered in the U.S. where politicians and corporate bankers are forthright, honest, and honorable, wishing only the sweetest sugar coated chili-dog best for all of mankind…

Imagine, if you will, a fantastic near future in which the United States is facing an unmitigated economic implosion.  Not just a mere market crash, or a stint of high unemployment, but a full spectrum collapse driven by unsustainable debt spending and hyperinflationary printing.  The American people witness multiple credit downgrades of U.S. Treasury mechanisms, the dollar loses its reserve status, devaluation of the currency runs rampant, and the prices of commodities and imported goods immediately skyrocket.

In the background of this disaster, a group of financial elite with dreams of a new centralized economic and political system use the chaos to encourage a removal of long held civil liberties; displacing Constitutional protections they deem “outdated” and no longer “practical” in the midst of our modern day troubles.  This group then institutes draconian policies through the executive orders of a puppet president, including indefinite detention, assassination, and even martial law against citizens.  For now, let’s just refer to them as “The Swedes”….

The Swedes have an extraordinary array of technological tools at their disposal.  The kind of equipment dictators like Stalin and Hitler would have killed for…literally.  This technology is so pervasive and so unprecedented in the history of tyrannical governments that average people shiver at the very thought of resistance.  The Swedes seem to be invincible.

Some Americans think about escaping to a foreign country before the zealots totally dominate, but ultimately, running is meaningless.  The Swedes want a global control grid, not just an American one.  Eventually, the expatriates will have to face the music as well.

Others believe that they can take their families and hide alone in far off mountains to wait out the storm, but they do not consider what will happen to their country and its principles while they curl up in a ball and pray that the catastrophe does not touch them.  They forget that survival is hollow if one finds himself and his culture enslaved in the meantime.

And yet others, those who are aware of the consequences of unchecked oligarchy, decide to build communities of liberty minded individuals in preparation for the dangers ahead.  They seek local and national solutions, social and political.  However, always in the backs of their minds sits the understanding that these situations rarely if ever solve themselves, and rarely if ever end peacefully.  Despots only respect one thing - Power.  Those who refuse to fight back are, in their eyes, nothing but an easy meal, like a wounded animal in a forest of wolves.  This third group of awake Americans comes to realize that one day the Swedes will move with severe aggression, and will have to be physically stopped.  But how...?

With modern computer driven weaponry at their fingertips, any resistance appears futile.  Some Americans, though, do their homework, and discover that most successful revolutions against better equipped opponents utilize low tech methods in highly intelligent ways.  They study the inherent weaknesses of the enemy weapons platforms using readily available online manuals and scientific journals.  They realize that these pieces of equipment costing millions of dollars each can be defeated using methods that cost little more than pocket change.  A war of economic attrition ensues, whereby the Swedes find themselves completely dependent on systems that cannot be maintained without substantial financial sacrifice.  With each new piece of hardware, comes an even more frustrating strategy of defiance.  Here are just a few examples…

CCTV Surveillance Grid

Sam is a Liberty Movement sympathizer caught in the city during the establishment of a high-tech surveillance grid in his hometown.  The dastardly Swedes relish the idea of being able to keep tabs on every person everywhere.  They even establish a database in the heart of Colorado which collates information in real time, allowing them to build and organize files on millions of citizens.  The success of this grid depends greatly on the capacity of their CCTV cameras placed in an ever expanding spider’s web across heavily populated regions.  The cameras use biometric data collected and stored by airport body scanners which the “extremists” often refer to as “naked body scanners”.  The data allows computers to quickly match specific body signs to identity.

The Swedes told the public that their data would not be saved for future reference, but of course, this was later found to be a lie.  It did not take long before the scanners were moved from the airports, to train stations, to bus stations, to federal buildings, to street corners for random shakedowns.  Sam knows that if his file is pulled up by one of the cameras, he is in serious trouble, and so makes plans to escape the city limits.  With curfews being set earlier and earlier in the evening, he decides to make his move before it is too late.

The night vision and thermal vision capabilities on the latest CCTV cameras makes disguise nearly impossible.   Makeup and prosthetics help to hide bone structure, and a knee brace helps to change the gait of Sam’s walk, but Sam also knows that the thermal filters on the cameras are actually able to see the heat of blood flow through facial arteries, which act as a face fingerprint.  There is no low-tech way to forge this face fingerprint:

So instead, Sam decides to block the camera system’s ability to use thermal vision at all.  He does this with a few dollars and a hat, gluing small Infrared LED lightbulbs into the cap along with a tiny battery source.  The IR lights drown out the CCTV ability to make any clear distinctions in his face, thus preventing any positive ID.  Sam is clever, and plants similar IR devices on other people without their knowledge, diluting the attention of Swedish law enforcement officials who are left wondering if their cameras are malfunctioning or if their city is swarming with “terrorists”:

Fingerprint Scanners

Angela is a worker in a Swedish detention facility.  At first, she believed that all the people quartered in the facility were terrorists who represented a threat to innocent lives.  But, over time, she came to realize that the true innocents were being housed in the prison, most of them detained for no more than criticizing Swedish policy or protesting a political injustice.  Angela makes plans to steal confidential information on the camp from her boss’ office and hand it over to the resistance.  Unfortunately, her boss uses a fingerprint scanner to unlock his door.  Luckily, she had done research into fail-test methods for such scanners in scientific and security journals and learned how to make molds using latent fingerprints:

RFID Chips

RFID chipping is all the rage with the Swedes, so of course they were more than keen to introduce the intrusive technology to the U.S. once the control grid was established.  The tiny inexpensive chips allowed tracking of nearly everything, from retail habits, to civilian movements, to common monetary transactions.  Evan, a computer hobbyist and quiet supporter of the Liberty Movement, found that without certain RFID designations, many goods could not be purchased, at least in bulk.  Only Swedish officials had the ability to go anywhere and to buy what they needed.

Evan found a solution, not necessarily “low-tech”, but easy enough to make using common materials and a basic knowledge of electronics and programming.  His idea?  Build an RFID Emulator/Cloner:

The cloner had the ability to read particular RFID chips, even from a distance, and to then copy their unique signal.  Evan was able to clone any chip anywhere and then implant the code on an RFID card or any other item containing a chip, making life easier for him, and information easier to get for others.

GPS Tracking

Evelyn was a political activist and independent journalist before the crash.  Her writing had become quite prominent in freedom minded circles, but the dollar had fallen, and with it, the Constitution had been scrapped.  Her criticisms of the Swedish controlled government were well known, and she had heard stories of liberty writers “disappearing”.  She decided to leave the confines of the city to stay with a friend before the noose was tightened completely.

As she entered her vehicle and made her way outside the city along backroads, away from the highway and possible checkpoints, she noticed that a nondescript car seemed to be shadowing her from a distance.  She made a few unplanned turns, and did not see the car again for twenty minutes.  Then, it appeared again, at the very edge of her mirror’s field of vision.  She realized that she may have a GPS tracking device implanted somewhere in her car, and to find it quickly would be impossible.  Thankfully, she had purchased a GPS jamming device months ago, which allowed her to block any GPS transmissions within a small to medium radius.  The device was furiously labeled by the FCC as “dangerous” and “illegal to use”, however, they remained very easy to buy until the crash:

Electronic Surveillance In General

Whether it be a CCTV camera, or a body scanner, sometimes the best option is not to evade or disguise, but to pull the plug entirely.  At least, that was James’ point of view after the control grid went into overdrive and he couldn’t walk his dog without a blue-shirted Swedish agent fondling him on the sidewalk or forcing him to walk through a body scanner.  Finally, he had had enough, and so, decided that if they wanted to track every move of every person, it was going to cost them.

Using commonly available parts, James built a personal EMP device.  Its range was dependent on the size of the power supply he tied to it, but when used properly, it would zap anything with a circuit within several feet of him:

The Body Scanners were useless.  RFID tags went blank.  CCTV cameras shorted.  They would eventually be replaced, but the cost would be high, and as long as he didn’t get caught, James could experience, at least for a short time, the America of the past…

Sound Cannon / Silence Gun

Mary had seen her family in poverty, her country in ruins, and her government turn to outright treason.  In her mind, the only recourse left was to take to the streets.  However, this proved to be almost as useless as participating in the election process.  New sound cannon vehicles were deployed in waves along with riot police to quell any and all protests, no matter how peaceful in nature.

Mary learned two things quickly.  The first:  always bring a gas mask to the party.  The second:  always think simple when faced with technological tyranny.

The sound cannon blast was terrible, making concentration difficult and causing panic amongst the protestors.  Even worse though was the Silence Gun:

Which actually recorded and then projected back a person’s voice only a split second after they began to talk, causing mental confusion and eventually, frustration and silence.  The device was popular at political events where activists were likely to interrupt a candidate’s teleprompter speech to expose the public to a few truths.  Mary was not a hacker, or a military specialist, or a technician of any kind.  So, she wore ear plugs.  Problem solved.

Night Vision / Thermal Imaging / Predator Drone

A considerable threat to those who decided to fight back against the Swedes was the widespread usage of night vision and thermal imagers by troops sent to hunt down and capture dissenters (the Swedes called them “enemy combatants).  The use of FLIR cameras on aircraft and the feared predator drones were especially terrifying to those who knew very little about how such technology actually functions.

David, an insurgent against Swede governance, was tired of hearing about how the Predator Drones would be the doom of all who defied the establishment.  He felt that this outlandish perception came more from the fact that the drones had no human passenger, and so, no potential casualty risk.  The concept of facing down a machine that feels no combat apprehension is certainly disturbing, but not insurmountable.  At bottom, what the enemy cannot see, the enemy cannot kill.  And so, instead of trying in vain to fight the drones and their thermal / night vision on the terms of the oppressive military presence, he decided to make their vision advantage irrelevant by studying IR evasion used in sniper training.

Regular night vision relies, in most cases, on the use of an IR light which bounces off targets within the field of view.  This is often referred to as “Active IR”.  Thermal Vision reads existing IR at a different wavelength, usually in heat producing or high IR producing bodies, called “Passive IR”.

For evading Active IR night vision, David found that regular camouflaging methods along with smoke worked well.  For defeating night vision altogether, he found that bright IR flashlights and floodlights, and even regular bright lights like camera flashes, shined directly at the target wearer of the night vision device, would be blinded for a short period of time, leaving room for escape.

Thermal vision evasion was more difficult.  David and his team first studied the IR Emissivity Tables of common everyday materials:

All objects above the temperature of absolute zero release a certain level of electromagnetic radiation, which thermal imagers pick up and translate into a visual picture.  Hiding one’s heat signature is difficult, but not impossible.  The key, as David learned through military sniper training manuals and combat analysis, was to match his IR signature with that of his surrounding as much as possible.

He fashioned a hooded cloak using a material that would block much of his initial warmth, then lined the inside of it with emergency space blanket material, which reflects back around 90% body heat.  The cloak design worked well because he could easily take down the hood and unwrap himself when not in immediate danger, allowing the material to cool as he walked.

Then David attached local vegetation to the material to help match its IR Emissivity to the surrounding foliage.  This combination reduced his thermal signature drastically.  Overhead drones could not identify him clearly as a human, if they were able to see him at all.  Ground forces were a greater threat, but the element of surprise was still possible for the insurgents with cloaks.

In combat, the tandem dangers of drones overhead and ground forces in pursuit with thermal vision made life difficult.  David carefully studied field guides to Predator Drone strengths and weaknesses:

David and his team then utilized a special strategy under these extreme circumstances called “False IR Signature”.

Operating in bad weather gave the freedom fighters an instant advantage.  Heavy rain washed away thermal footprints and obscured body heat.  Thick cloud cover made image integrity poor.  Contrary to popular belief, the drones had many downfalls, and their eyes were limited in numerous ways.

When in the middle of combat, where drone surveillance was most dangerous to low-tech resistance, multiple fake IR signatures were created using whatever was available.  David used a combination of IR Chemlights and hot burning road flares thrown all over the field to misdirect drone cameras.  With IR hotspots everywhere, the thermal cameras had no idea where to focus, let alone which targets were real, and which were fake.  IR strobe light flares flashed intermittently causing even more confusion, and masked to some extent muzzle flash from firearms.

Larger objects could also be faked using pieces of metal heated with fire, or even heated metallic balloons arranged in a sizable pattern to mimic a hot running car or tank.  Drones would zero in on false targets and unleash missiles, only to waste the expensive ordinance on party favors and scrap.  Through David’s knowledge and efforts, the game had become more level.

Technology Or Force Of Will?

Technological weaponry and surveillance should never be underestimated.  Today’s advancements are terrifying, devastating, and were designed after decades of trial and error in peripheral wars and burgeoning dictatorships around the world.  A technology cannot be defeated by someone who does not respect its capability.  That said, in the end, wars are not won with fancy gadgets alone.  All conflicts are decided by a primary driver; force of will.

Who has the strength of spirit to endure the longest?  Who has the intelligence to outwit the technology?  Who knows exactly what they are fighting for and why?  These questions decide victory, not unmanned aircraft and computers.

In the introduction, I joke a little about the state of our Republic, but sadly, the fictional accounts above represent realities that Americans today must consider as practical and possible in the near future.  “The Swedes” are not illusion, but a parable of the kind of totalitarianism that arises in the midst of any culture dominated by elitism and collectivism.  Whether you believe this is realistic or not in our nation today I suppose is dependent on your level of awareness surrounding current events.  My goal in covering the information above is not to convince you one way or the other of the dangers ahead.  The point is to redistribute the knowledge so that one day, in the event that the stories portrayed turn out to be more true than you realize, you may have the ability to do something about those troubled times as an effective champion, rather than a helpless victim…

Profits are privatized. Losses are socialized.

"Most important is understanding that money power in private hands is public enemy number one."

Grassroots activism takes time to grow. Broad-based participation is vital. Issues must be clearly defined. Leadership is needed. Major obstacles must be overcome.

Avoiding being co-opted, diverted, divided, and/or subverted are key. So is staying the course because major struggles aren't won short-term. Achieving social justice is the mother of them all, especially in today's environment.

What began last September waned during winter cold. Perhaps May Day protests began Act II. Only the fullness of time will tell.

Thousands rallied in cities across America. Public anger drew them. Demonstrations and marches were held. Issue one is social justice. Getting it's another story. Since last September, nothing has been achieved.

Expect worse ahead. Post-elections, political Washington plans huge domestic spending reductions on top of those enacted earlier.

Trillions of dollars will be cut over the next decade. Despair promises to replace hope and change. The fading American dream's on life support. Reversing it indeed is the mother of all struggles. It's tougher with Homeland Security allied with local cops to monitor and crack down.

Last fall, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FBI, and other federal security agencies began coordinating with city officials and police to subvert and disrupt Occupy Wall Street encampments.

Tactics include violent confrontations, infiltrating local groups, and close monitoring. In 2003, a federal judge expanded New York police surveillance powers. Citing "fundamental changes in the threats to public security," he relaxed a longstanding court order restricting police monitoring of political groups.

A 1985 Handschu agreement consent decree imposed restrictions. It involved a political advocacy group's 1971 lawsuit against NYPD's Red Squad.

FBI COINTELPRO tactics still harass disruptively. Targeted groups are monitored, infiltrated, sabotaged, and destroyed. At issue is subverting social, economic and political equality advocacy.

Secret/illegal tactics are used. Earlier targeted groups included communists, political dissidents, anti-war, human and civil rights activists, the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and other organizations.

In their book "Agents of Repression," Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall wrote:

COINTELPRO "came to signify the whole context of clandestine (typically illegal) political repression activities (including) a massive surveillance (program via) wiretaps, surreptitious entries and burglaries, electronic devices, live 'tails' and....bogus mail."

At issue was inducing paranoia to foster splits within or between organizations.

Other tactics included:

"black propaganda" through leaflets or other publications; they were "designed to discredit organizations and foster internal tensions;"

"disinformation or 'gray propaganda' " for the same purpose;

"bad-jacketing" to "creat(e) suspicion - through the spread of rumors, manufacture of evidence, etc. - that bona fide organizational members, (usually leaders were) FBI/police informants;" the idea was to turn some members against others violently;

"assassinations (of) selected political leaders;" on December 4, 1969, Chicago police murdered Fred Hampton and Mark Clark while they slept; and

"harassment arrests (on bogus) charges."

Groups and individuals were targeted for political advocacy, not crimes. It's similar today. Advanced surveillance technology makes it easier. So do repressive laws like the USA Patriot Act and FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. Anyone can be targeted for any reason or none at all.

Social justice advocates are especially vulnerable. No holds barred tactics target them. Federal and local authorities coordinate activities.

On March 11, The New York Times headlined "Wall Street Protesters Complain of Police Surveillance," saying:

NYPD "surveillance efforts have recently gained attention and criticism with reports that officers compiled detailed data on Muslim communities. Now, some Occupy protesters worry that they are being subjected to similar scrutiny."

For months, OWS organizers said police targeted private meetings, questioned protesters, and visited them at home. According to New York ACLU executive director Donna Lieberman:

"The NYPD surveillance does not appear to be limited to unlawful activity. We count on the police, of course, to be on the lookout for terrorists and terrorism, but to think you could be on that continuum just by going to a peaceful protest is nuts."

Undercover cops are involved. FBI agents join them. Activists know they're closely monitored. One said "(t)hey know who we are, where we live, and where we are organizing."

It's also happening in other US cities. Washington's very much involved. If spring and summer protests grow, America's homeland could become a battleground. It's happened before.

On May 2, The New York Times headlined, "Police Warrant Squads Were Used to Monitor Wall Street Protesters, Suspects Say."

People with old warrants for minor violations are targeted. Those questioned said cops had other motives. One was asked about his May Day plans. Another said police examined political fliers in his apartment. They arrested him on an outdated 2007 warrant for an open container of alcohol violation.

Questions are now raised on how far authorities will go. Police had no comment. Power yields nothing. Gerald Celente calls cops enforcers for crime bosses. That's why they're hired in the first place. They serve and protect elites. Ordinary people are sacrificed for their interests.

Last October, an internal DHS report revealed its involvement with local authorities. Titled "SPECIAL COVERAGE: Occupy Wall Street," it said "mass gatherings associated with public protest movements can have disruptive effects on transportation, commercial, and government services, especially when staged in major metropolitan areas."

Protests throughout the country are peaceful. Nonetheless, DHS said "large scale demonstrations also carry the potential for violence, presenting a significant challenge for law enforcement."

Social web sites are monitored for information on planned activities, when, and who's involved. DHS said "(s)ocial media and the organic emergence of online communities have driven the rapid expansion of the OWS movement."

The report ended, saying:

"The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence."

"While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI)."

"The continued expansion of these protests also places an increasingly heavy burden on law enforcement and movement organizers to control protesters. As the primary target of the demonstrations, financial services stands the sector most impacted by the OWS protests."

"Due to the location of the protests in major metropolitan areas, heightened and continuous situational awareness for security personnel across all CI sectors is encouraged."

OWS growth and survival depends on confronting hardball government tactics effectively. It's also about disassociating from political Washington. Democrats are as venal as Republicans.

Obama's DHS and FBI target local groups. Bipartisan complicity supports it. So do labor bosses and other alleged allies.

Local activists are on their own. Clearly defined goals are needed. Some are articulated, many aren't, and key ones aren't mentioned.

Most important is understanding that money power in private hands is public enemy number one. Returning it to public hands is crucial. Achieving other goals depends on it.

Privatized money control and democracy can't co-exist. Wall Street crooks transformed America into an unprecedented money making racket. Ordinary Americans lost savings, jobs, homes and futures to let privileged elites get richer and more powerful.

Washington is Wall Street occupied territory. Profits are privatized. Losses are socialized. American households are on their own sink or swim. Class war rages. Billionaire Warren Buffet said his side's winning.

Social justice is on the chopping block for elimination. The criminal class in Washington is bipartisan. Complicit with business, they've wrecked the economy and working households for profit. America's resources are earmarked for militarism, imperial wars, banks and other corporate favorites.

Institutionalized inequality is policy. People needs no longer matter. Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (NCFRF) recommended deep social spending cuts.

Post-election, they're coming. At the same time, expect more corporate tax cuts. OWS protesters must rally around Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, universal healthcare, creating jobs, ending imperial wars and corporate bailouts, directing America's resources to public needs, making rich elites pay their fair share, and other specific social justice issues.

Workers and those wanting jobs must get involved. Raising the right issues will draw them. Enlisting others to join them is crucial. Strategy entails challenging authority.

Disruptive social initiatives worked before and can again. Ordinary people have power when they mobilize for justice, defy the rules, challenge established institutions, and force political debate on new issues.

Elections don't work. America's a one-party state with two wings. Corrupted media bosses support it. Democracy and social justice are sacrificed for profits. Only fighting the beast and slaying it works. Otherwise the worst of all possible worlds awaits.

OWS activism has possibilities. It's the first social justice initiative since the 1960s. It's long overdue. Jefferson once said:

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles."

Lyrics from a WW II era song said "We did it before and we can do it again." Indeed so, war triumphalism aside. The battle to end slavery succeeded. Labor and civil rights were gained. Presidents once favored Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other popular measures.

Before his death, Franklin Roosevelt proposed an economic bill of rights. He felt constitutional ones weren't enough. He wanted legislation guaranteeing employment with a living wage, housing, medical care, education, social security, and freedom from unfair competition and monopolies.

Presidents today don't talk that way. Roosevelt wanted more for ordinary people. Obama wants social justice destroyed. Austerity, not vitally needed help, is policy.

Sustained popular resistance for change works. Organized people can beat organized money. Succeeding depends on doing what it takes for as long as it takes.

The Washington/corporate America nexus is venal. Job one is slaying the beast. Yip Harburg's lyrics from "Over the Rainbow" said somewhere "dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

It takes sustained sacrifice. There's no other way. Quitting's not an option! There can't be, no matter the odds.

Friend and ally Ilya Sandra Perlingieri began her new article with the following quote. It bears repeating and sharing:

"A tree as great as man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;

A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;

A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.

So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure."

~ Lao Tsu. Tao Te Ching, #64.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/

Source

"To Protect and Serve" - but who do they serve?

Police in Minnesota have been caught on video picking up teenagers, doing drug experiments on them, and then dropping them off at the local Occupy protest to discredit the movement.
It’s the CIA’s famed MK Ultra mind control drug program all over again but this time the drug experiments are being conducted on teenage volunteers who are apparently then being dropped off at the local Occupy protests.

Reddirt Reports:

---

Drug-dealing cops using Occupy protesters as test subjects, snitches?

By Andrew W. Griffin
Red Dirt Report, editor
Posted: May 2, 2012
reddirtreporter@gmail.com
OKLAHOMA CITY – In what strikes this reporter as highly unethical and likely illegal, police officers, highway patrol troopers and sheriff’s deputies from across Minnesota have been allegedly preying on drug-impaired youths, getting them high and observing their reactions, not unlike laboratory rats.

Norman-based blogger Kaye Beach, with Axxiom for Liberty, informed Red Dirt Report about this disturbing program and that similar activities may be taking place here in Oklahoma.
RogueMedia.org, with help from Twin Cities Indymedia, Communities United Against Police Brutality and Occupy Minneapolis, reported that their undercover investigation, revealed shocking stories of cops offering young people drugs and taken to a secret state-owned warehouse where vast amounts of drugs were consumed by the young test subjects under the watchful eyes of interested police. The activists also witnessed, in Minneapolis’ Peavey Plaza, “police dropping off impaired people” where Occupy Minneapolis congregates.

The video can be viewed here.

This appears to be part of a new “innovative training program” for police which allows them to become Drug Recognition Experts (DRE’s) and that those recruited for the tests would be already “drug-impaired.” As this activist video shows, several were not impaired and simply jumped at the chance of free drugs and a free meal, only to be dropped off back at the plaza in a drug-impaired state.

It would appear that this program only proves what a joke the “drug war” really is, when the cops are encouraging young people to take drugs so they can become drug-recognition experts.
Continuing, in the video it notes that the young people are offered free drugs, taken to a Minnesota Department of Transportation warehouse near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and observed as they ingest copious amounts of illegal drugs, primarily marijuana.
Interviewing different young people who took part in the “drug tests,” they discovered that no EMT’s or ambulances were on site.

“I got stoned with a couple of cops,” says one young man identified as ‘Panda.’ “I’m high as f***. Panda explained he was at the local Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis when he was told the police were “doing research” to find out “how people react” under the influence of narcotics. And when the cops offered Panda to take part in the human experiment, he agreed.
Asked by the activist if it was “high-grade weed,” Panda replies: “Dude, this is some of the best s*** I’ve had in a while. Now I know what happens to the stuff they confiscate.”
Afterward, they bought the young drug user a double cheeseburger dinner at a McDonald’s. They monitored how fast they ate his meal so they could see if he had the “munchies.”
Panda also said that the cops knew he was deeply involved in the local Occupy Wall Street activist movement and they asked him to inform on other Occupiers.

Panda claims he was asked to participate some other time in the future, and Panda said “one day” he would consider it.

Another human subject, a young man, said his blood pressure was checked and that at the warehouse there were upwards of 30 cops on site. The Minnesota State Patrol website says these tests on human guinea pigs are part of certification training “where they perform 12 evaluations on drug-impaired subjects” to better train cops for field-sobriety tests and so forth. Certification training takes two-to-three weeks, according to the RogueMedia.org story.
Back to their video, another guy, who wanted heroin, said the cops gave him a big bag of weed to smoke.

Of concern is that these test subjects return to the plaza in an impaired condition and could endanger themselves or others in public gathering spaces, such as Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis.
The video notes that Minnesota’s DRE state coordinator is Riccardo Munoz, with the Minnesota State Patrol in St. Paul. He is part of the International Drug Evaluation & Classification Program.
RogueMedia.org notes that “the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. It is also suspected that the Minneapolis City Council is secretly working with law enforcement to “discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.”
[...]
Source: Red Dirt Report

Roque Media reports:

MK Occupy Minnesota: Drugs & the DRE Program at Peavey Plaza

Video documentation [shown below] by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.

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.
[...]
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.
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Source: Roque Media

Video Description:

Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
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.

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, https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/msp/forms-reports/Documents/SFSTSponsorResponsib… 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 from May 2011, 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.”

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