What to expect if you can't avoid arrest

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press offers some tips on how to avoid common problems experienced by reporters while covering demonstrations and other mass public events, and provides some insight about what to expect if you are arrested during one of them.

Journalists should be prepared for a large-scale disturbance by always carrying several essential items, including:

• a government-issued photo identification card. If you are detained without a government-issued I.D., the police will hold you until you can be fingerprinted and positively identified, a process that can take several hours and makes you ineligible for immediate release on bond.
• If you have a police-issued press pass, credential or other documentation of your function as someone who gathers and disseminates information to the public, be sure it is with you at all times as well.
• Carry cash and/or a credit card with you to post bond.
• Make it visually obvious you are a member of the press. It is advisable to always wear a hat and/or shirt that displays the word “PRESS” prominently.

If an event becomes the subject of law enforcement activity, the best way to avoid being arrested is to report on those activities in a manner that does not obstruct the law enforcement activity, and to follow all police orders. Do not walk through a police line without first showing your press pass or I.D. and obtaining permission. Keep in mind that press credentials issued by various government entities may be recognized in some places but not others.

Identifying yourself as a news reporter may reduce the likelihood of arrest, and may facilitate your release if you are caught up in a mass arrest. If you are covering the activities of a crowd that invites arrest and want to avoid being arrested along with them, move to the periphery of the activity so you can readily detach yourself should that prove necessary.

Be mindful, however, that following such a procedure does not guarantee your protection from arrest, as self-described adventure photographer Jerry Nelson, also an Occupy D.C. protester who camped out full-time, said he discovered while taking photographs of the police as they prepared to evict the demonstrators from a public park in early February.

“I was standing alone watching the activity when about five park police surrounded me and told me they wanted to speak with me,” Nelson wrote in a column published on HuffPost DC, the Washington, D.C., edition of the online newspaper The Huffington Post. “When I asked what this was about one of them took the cigarette from my mouth while another slipped the plasti-cuffs over my wrists and pulled them so tight I could feel the skin tear beneath them.”

In the event police detain you during a disturbance, remain calm and obey instructions. In addition:

• notify the arresting officer that you are a news reporter and show your credentials if you have any;
• ask that a supervising officer be notified that a reporter is being detained; and
• seek permission to call your organization’s lawyer or the Reporters Committee legal defense hotline at your earliest opportunity, as the attorney can be of little, if any, assistance before speaking with you. If you are taken into custody and unable to place this call, try to inform a colleague, employer or somebody else to contact those individuals on your behalf. You may wish to keep an open phone line with an editor during the event if you expect trouble.

If you are arrested for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, failure to follow a police order or any other non-felony infraction, the quickest way to get back onto the streets to continue reporting is to cooperate and post bond.

Your arrest may be videotaped; if so, both you and the officer will be visible on the tape, and the officer will identify you and verbally state the probable cause for the arrest, although at least two journalists, including Nelson, have reported that police declined to provide details of why they were arrested. This also was the case for Jacquie Kubin, online communities editor at The Washington Times, who was charged with assaulting a police officer and crossing police lines while she was covering the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., in mid-February.

After the arrest, you will then likely be taken to a facility being used by the police during the event for initial processing. Nelson, for example, said he was led to a processing tent the police had set up on site earlier in the day before being transported to a processing unit of a National Park Police substation.

Once at this facility, a routine booking procedure will be conducted in which you will be fingerprinted, your photograph will be taken, and your identity will be verified. Again, you should cooperate in giving your name, address and other basic identifying information, but remember that other statements you make can and will be used against you in later proceedings. Phones may be available for your use once your processing is complete, but you may not be permitted to meet in person with an attorney there.

Depending on the location of the event, there are a number of possibilities as to what will happen next:

• If you do not have proof of your identity or refuse to provide it, you may be transported to the local jail and detained until your identity is determined. This could substantially delay your release, so be sure to carry your government-issued I.D. card at all times.
• If you have provided proof of your identity and indicate you are able and willing to post the required bond to ensure your later appearance in court, after your identity is verified and you clear a criminal history check, you may be taken to the jail where you will post your bond, receive a date for future court appearance and be released. Again depending on the location, municipal offenses with which reporters likely would be charged could carry a bond ranging from about $150 up to nearly $600. You should therefore carry with you, at all times, a minimum of $150 in cash as well as a credit card, or as much cash as you are comfortable carrying. Posting bond is only a means whereby officials may release you from custody and still ensure your appearance at a future court proceeding and is not the equivalent of pleading guilty or taking any other action related to the pending charge or charges. However, be aware of whether what you are signing is such a bond arrangement, or contains language suggesting that you are admitting guilt.
• If you cannot or refuse to post bond, you will likely be taken to the local county courthouse for arraignment. The courthouse’s operating hours may be extended during the event, although it is possible, if you are arrested over a weekend, for example, that you will not be arraigned until normal business hours.

Arrestees may receive video advisements in groups concerning the maximum penalties and bond setting procedures. Then each arrestee will appear before a judge individually. You have the right to have an attorney represent you at arraignment. If you are an independent journalist or your organization is unable to provide an attorney, you may call the Reporters Committee to request a referral to an attorney in your area who can provide assistance in connection with your arraignment.

At the arraignment, you will enter a plea. If you plead not guilty, it is in your best interest to file a written demand for jury trial, and pay any required fee for such, within 20 days after the plea is entered. (Indigent arrestees may be able to obtain a waiver of the fee). If you decide later that you wish to have a trial by the judge instead of a jury, you may do so and may receive a refund of the fee. Securing the right at the outset, however, is important from a negotiation standpoint, among other reasons.

After you enter your plea during arraignment, you likely will then be taken to the government holding facility to retrieve your property before you are transferred to the jail where you will either pay the required bond to secure your immediate release, or be held pending trial.

You can reach the Reporters Committee 24/7 legal defense hotline at 1-800-336-4243.