Snopes reports
Six journalists could spend up to 10 years in prison after being arrested during protests against President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The Guardian identified the journalists as freelancer Aaron CantĂș; Vocativ senior producer Evan Engel; Jack Keller, producer for the online documentary Story of America; independent journalists Matt Hopard and Shay Horse; and RT America reporter Alex Rubinstein.
The group was charged under a District of Columbia statute penalizing "every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage" in a riot causing more than $5,000 in property damage with the potential 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $25,000. More than 200 people in total were arrested the day of the 20 January 2017 inauguration; they were reportedly arraigned the following day and will be back in court in February and March.
[...] Another independent journalist and documentarian, Tim Pool, said on Twitter that he and two NBC News journalists were also arrested during the 20 January 2017 demonstrations but released without charges. Pool said that a supervising officer told him "no less than three times" that they were under arrest. NBC News has not responded to our request for comment regarding Pool's account.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @03:35AM
Its literally the opposite of following orders. Its indulging your biases because you think you've now got institutional cover to do it.
Cops have discretion because real life needs slack. Rigid adherence to the rules makes everything grind to a halt.
But the price we pay for that slack is that it will be abused. The people at the top set the tone for whether, and what kinds, of abuse will be tolerated.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @08:20AM
Rigid adherence to the rules makes everything grind to a halt.
Only because bureaucracy is out of control. Force every agent of the state to follow the rules, and the politicians will be forced to simplify the rules until they get so simple that anyone can understand them. Then the people will also be able to follow the rules, and only real criminals will be criminals, who gets thrown into prison will no longer be a matter of "discretion".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @05:59PM
Again you've got it exactly backwards.
The rules constrain the cops more than they constrain the people.
Less rules, means more discretionary power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @07:19PM
"The rules constrain the cops more than they constrain the people."
good!