The NYPD's inglorious attempt to weasel out of its legal commitment to stop arresting journalists who are doing their jobs on rinky-dink charges met an inglorious end today, with a federal judge firmly rejecting their arguments as baseless.
As part of the City's settlement of a host of civil rights lawsuits brought after the NYPD's violent and unconstitutional reaction to the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020, the department promised to reform its policies and training on when police are allowed to arrest journalists on minor charges like jaywalking, trespassing, or obstruction of governmental administration.
Where before cops had free rein to get a reporter out of the way by arresting them on one of these charges and carting them off to be processed elsewhere, under the terms of the settlement, only an incident commander or someone from the NYPD's press shop would be able to authorize that kind of an arrest—and even then, the police should just issue the reporter a summons on the spot and release them to keep doing their work, not transport them off site.