As Tribal Members were rounded up and arrested on Thursday, Rio Tinto employees had their hands full with massive coolers of subs and soda which were distributed to the arresting officers.

This is classified as police bribery and was documented on video. A brief clip can be found at Stand For The Land For full video coverage of witness testimony contact Gabe Caplett

In the 1970’s the Knapp Commission was established to deal with Police Corruption in NYC. They defined “Corruption of Authority” as “Police officers receiving free drinks, meals, and other gratuities”.

The actions of the State Police on Thursday match this description exactly. Lieutenant  Robert Pernaski of the State Police corroborated the claim at 12:40pm on May 28th on the phone to office members at Save the Wild UP. Saying, “Yes they fed us because we had a lot of personnel up there for an extended period of time.” When asked if this happens regularly, he responded “I’m sure it’s happened in the past, but it doesn’t happen regularly, it’s not something we ask for”.

A report was filed this morning with the Lansing Administrative Office of the Michigan State Police