The state has suspended drug recognition training for law enforcement officers and begun an investigation into allegations that a Hutchinson police officer provided marijuana to a potential subject last week, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said.

A Minnesota State Patrol trooper also was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday, May 9, in connection with the case.

A police officer made the allegation about the Hutchinson officer two days after a video was posted on YouTube claiming that police were recruiting people from the Occupy Minneapolis movement and giving them drugs for law enforcement training.

The state’s action regarding the Hutchinson officer is not a result of the video but arose from the officer’s report, said Bruce Gordon, DPS spokesman.

He said he didn’t know whether the allegation in question was captured on the video, which was produced by independent media and other organizations.

Asked whether the case would have come to light had it not been for the video, Gordon said, “That’s hypothetical. I don’t know for sure. I’m sure that the video heightened awareness of this situation and it may have prompted a law enforcement officer to come forward.”

A trooper, Nick Otterson, was placed on leave “pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations about his conduct during the DRE (Drug Recognition Evaluator) training,” said Lt. Col. Matt Langer, State Patrol assistant chief.

Gordon said he couldn’t reveal what the allegations are and that the investigation would be by DPS internal affairs.

In the video, young people claim they were sober when officers picked them up near Peavey Plaza, current home of the Occupy Minneapolis movement. They said officers took them to Richfield, gave them drugs to take for the law enforcement training to detect drug-impaired drivers and returned them to Minneapolis.

They also alleged officers gave them cash, food or cigarettes, said Dan Feidt, who has been involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement since it started and helped interview, shoot, produce and edit the video.

On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak thanked the people who documented the issue and brought it forward.

“Our job is to keep Minneapolis a safe place to call home, and doing so requires that we build relationships of trust with people,” he said in a statement.

“The actions that led to the suspension of the state’s DRE program severely undermine that trust. I never could have imagined that something like this would happen in Minneapolis, or that it would happen without consulting the mayor and police chief. It’s just plain wrong.”

Feidt called what happened “grossly unethical.” He said he thought law enforcement’s actions had the effect of discrediting and disrupting the Occupy movement. He said similar law enforcement disruptions have been a problem around the country.

The video was posted on YouTube on Wednesday, May 2, and the officer made his report Friday to the State Patrol, which manages the drug evaluation and classification (DEC) training. The officer from another law enforcement agency said he saw a Hutchinson police officer providing marijuana to a potential subject, according to DPS.

An officer’s Hutchinson police patch is visible just after the 16-minute mark of the 35-minute video. The man who videotaped him said it was from April 27 or 28. Gordon said he would not identify whether that is the officer under investigation.

The DEC program recruits “volunteer subjects who appear to be impaired” from the community to perform evaluations on them during training, DPS said in a statement.

The training occurs once a year and the last round wrapped up on Thursday, May 3.

Gordon said Wednesday: “The video certainly caught our attention, but we were unable to confirm the specific allegations in the video.”

He also said, “We’re just focusing in on the single incident, and if we receive additional information, we’ll expand the scope of the investigation.”

In addition to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension launching a criminal investigation, Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman directed the Public Safety Department’s internal affairs division to look into the training program to determine whether agency policies or procedures were violated.

“Training law enforcement officers to detect drug impairment helps to keep our roads safe, but we need to ensure that all participants follow guidelines and operate within the law,” Dohman said in a statement. “I have suspended the drug recognition evaluator training pending the outcome of these investigations and until we revisit and review the curriculum for the program.”

The case that triggered the investigations allegedly occurred during training in the Twin Cities last week, Gordon said. Twenty-six officers participated in the training, he said. Minnesota’s DEC program started in 1991.

“We’re going to get to the truth,” Gordon said. “Right, wrong or indifferent, we’re going to know what happened and we’re going to make sure that going forward this program is administered legally, ethically and in a way that the community is comfortable with.”

Hutchinson Police Chief Daniel Hatten said the officer who is the subject of the investigation continues to work. He said he wouldn’t get into specific information about the officer, including how long he’s worked for the department.

“We’re not making any statement until the BCA investigation is completed,” Hatten said. “We’re waiting for the complete and thorough investigation by the BCA, which we’re confident that they’ll do.”

Feidt said shutting down the DEC program was a good first step.

“I’m really hoping this spurs a broader discussion on the war on drugs that hasn’t happened in Minnesota,” Feidt said. “The video clearly shows the war on drugs is a colossal waste of money that dehumanizes people, it trains government officials to treat people like objects, and it does nothing to relieve the problems of chemical dependency in our society.”

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried or twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.

Online: To see the video from local activists and independent media, and to read Ruben Rosario’s column from Sunday, go to twincities.com