# Detention of reporter - kosher or not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 19, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672 "2010-10-19T16:46:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/1 "2010-10-19T16:46:25Z")
In Alaska, Reporter Tony Hopfinger was trying to question Republican senate candidate Joe Miller at a public meeting at a public school, when the hired security took offense. The security, which [included active service military members](http://www.adn.com/2010/10/18/1507982/questions-surround-use-of-security.html), ended up handcuffing Hopfinger to a railing for 20 minutes or so until the police showed up. The security detail also tried (unsuccessfully) to bar other reporters from taking pictures or talking to Hopfinger.
The meeting was public; there were other reporters present, the public were invited to ask questions.
The police released Hopfinger, and to date, no charges have been laid.
[Huffington post report](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/18/reporter-detained-by-joe-_n_766565.html)
I think that this represents intimidation of the press and wrongful imprisonment of a reporter. I would hope that the prosecutors office look at the situation very carefully, and lay charges against the security personnel who took the extreme step of detaining a civilian for asking questions of a candidate for office in a public meeting.
Miller’s office is trying to spin this as “Hopfinger going crazy and assaulting people”. Unfortunately for them, there are plenty of witnesses who say otherwise.
[Witness: Reporter was rude but not a threat](http://alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/politics/7195-witness-reporter-was-rude-but-not-a-threat)
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/2 "2010-10-19T16:58:59Z")
I would say that regardless of anything else it’s certainly not kosher for an individual to perform a citizens’ arrest (or “public person’s arrest”) without identifying themselves or the crime for which they are arresting the individual.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/3 "2010-10-19T16:58:59Z")
Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/4 "2010-10-19T17:06:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
Does that give the security guards the right to handcuff and detain someone?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/5 "2010-10-19T17:09:46Z")
Well, maybe. After all, Disney handcuffs and detains people on its property all the time, and nobody asks where that’s legal.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/6 "2010-10-19T17:15:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
The meeting was not advertised as a “private event”, there was no indication at the beginning of the meeting that it was private, and there were other reporters present who were not arrested or harassed in any way. Can you point to anything that indicates that the event was advertised as “private”? Was it a private fundraiser for Republicans only? Were reporters advised that it was private at any time?
In the absence of any indication that a political event featuring a public figure running for public office at a public school is private event, and given the fact that many reporters were present, I have to think that a reasonable person would conclude that it is an event for the public.
The accusation of “trespassing” against Hopfinger only came when he was asking the candidate questions.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/7 "2010-10-19T17:16:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Well, maybe. After all, Disney handcuffs and detains people on its property all the time, and nobody asks where that’s legal.
On Disney’s PRIVATE property.
This was a political event for the public, featuring a public figure running for public office at a public school.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/8 "2010-10-19T17:18:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
The actual event was open to the public though, so while it was private in the sense that a private organization was putting it on, its not like the reporter was trespassing or crashing a private meeting or something.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/9 "2010-10-19T17:20:12Z")
[Miller defends handcuffing of reporter.](http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/19/headlines#3)
> [@](#):
>
> Joe Miller, the Republican Senate nominee in Alaska, has defended a decision made by his private security guards to detain and handcuff a reporter at a public meeting on Sunday. Miller accused Tony Hopfinger, the editor of the website Alaska Dispatch, of harassing him and following him into a bathroom while trying to get an interview. In an interview on Fox News, Miller dismissed charges that the guards violated Hopfinger’s First Amendment rights.
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > **Joe Miller:** “Well, I have been the most transparent, most successful candidate of the three. That town hall meeting was full of people with questions and we answered them. So, if anybody is going to talk about the First Amendment, we are huge proponents of it and we like to have the free exchange of ideas and that is what happened up until this guy just starting crossing the line.”
>
> Private security guards working for the firm Drop Zone handcuffed Hopfinger, and detained him in a hallway of the school for 25 minutes until police arrived and ordered his release. Private security guards also tried to prevent two other reporters from filming the detention but a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News briefly spoke with Hopfinger.
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Tony Hopfinger: At that point they took me down here.
> >
> > Reporter: Who is they?
> >
> > Tony Hopfinger: All of these guys and they handcuffed me and then they called the police.
> >
> > Reporter: How did they get the handcuffs on? How did you let them handcuff you? They used force?
> >
> > Tony Hopfinger: They used force to put me in handcuffs.
>
> The Anchorage Daily News has also revealed that two of the private security guards who detained the reporter were active-duty soldiers moonlighting for the security firm.
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### Author:  [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/10 "2010-10-19T17:27:41Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
Yeah, not quite.
> [@](#):
>
> Fulton said he arrested Hopfinger for trespassing and assault. He said he had the right to arrest him for trespass because the campaign had rented the space from the school district and had the right to exclude anyone, **though the district said it rented the cafeteria, stage and parking lot, not the hall where the arrest took place.**
>
> Read more: [http://www.adn.com/2010/10/18/1507982/questions-surround-use-of-security.html#ixzz12pJbWSh2](http://www.adn.com/2010/10/18/1507982/questions-surround-use-of-security.html#ixzz12pJbWSh2)
Bolding mine.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/11 "2010-10-19T17:29:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Well, maybe. After all, Disney handcuffs and detains people on its property all the time, and nobody asks where that’s legal.
Well, I wasn’t aware of that, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a cite that it is legal. I feel fairly confident that I couldn’t handcuff and detain people all the time in my house.
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### Author:  [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/12 "2010-10-19T17:32:14Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#):
>
> I feel fairly confident that I couldn’t handcuff and detain people all the time in my house.
You’re inviting the wrong people to your house, then.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/13 "2010-10-19T17:33:21Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Embley said Miller’s group was charged $400 to use the school for three hours, which is the same fee that is charged to any non-school group. She said those types of gatherings are considered private events even though they are held at an otherwise public facility because the group is renting the facility for its meeting.
Phew, that’s a load off my mind. For a minute there I thought security guards cuffed a reporter for asking questions to a candidate who has made a point of refusing to answer questions about his past. Now that I know it was technically a private event and their actions may have been technically legal even if they were unwarranted, my concerns are resolved.
I make no bones about the fact that the press often focuses on irrelevant personal details about the lives of candidates for public office, and the fact that that focus has made the relationship between the press and politicians more hostile. That being said, it’s aggravating as hell that candidates for the Senate are actively shunning the press so they won’t have to answer questions about their positions, backgrounds, or do anything except get on the stump and spout talking points. It’s also somewhat ironic that people with similar views described Obama, who had little national experience but was not secretive with the press, as a “Trojan horse” just two years ago. It’s a development that cannot do anything positive for anyone except candidates who don’t like taking questions.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/14 "2010-10-19T17:37:26Z")
> [@villa](#):
>
> You’re inviting the wrong people to your house, then.
Tell me about it. That last bitch couldn’t break a twenty.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/15 "2010-10-19T17:43:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Phew, that’s a load off my mind. For a minute there I thought security guards cuffed a reporter for asking questions to a candidate who has made a point of refusing to answer questions about his past. Now that I know it was technically a private event and their actions may have been technically legal even if they were unwarranted, my concerns are resolved.
The event was not private, it was a public meeting with members of the public and reporters present. It was not billed as a private event, and there were no announcements saying that it was a private event at any time. The guards cuffed the reporter in an area of the public school that Miller’s group had not even rented.
The actions of the moonlighting active duty military personnel are inexcusable and non-defensible.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/16 "2010-10-19T17:44:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I would say that regardless of anything else it’s certainly not kosher for an individual to perform a citizens’ arrest (or “public person’s arrest”) without identifying themselves or the crime for which they are arresting the individual.
No, the only thing that’s necessary to effectuate an arrest is “… the actual restraint of a person or by a person’s submission to the custody of the person making the arrest.”
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/17 "2010-10-19T17:45:50Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#):
>
> Well, I wasn’t aware of that, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a cite that it is legal. I feel fairly confident that I couldn’t handcuff and detain people all the time in my house.
If they committed a misdemeanor in your presence, then you could.
[Infobases](http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/folio.asp) and navigate to Chapter 12.25.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/18 "2010-10-19T17:47:00Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> No, the only thing that’s necessary to effectuate an arrest is “… the actual restraint of a person or by a person’s submission to the custody of the person making the arrest.”
And if I were to do that to you at a public meeting because you were asking questions I did not like… how would that be differentiated from simple assault?
ETA: Do you think you could successfully argue that Hopfinger committed a misdemeanor by trespassing at the meeting? Do you think you could convince a judge or jury that a reasonable person should have known that a public appearance of a candidate for office in a public place with members of the public and reporters present was actually a PRIVATE affair?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/19 "2010-10-19T17:49:33Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> The event was not private, it was a public meeting with members of the public and reporters present. It was not billed as a private event, and there were no announcements saying that it was a private event at any time. The guards cuffed the reporter in an area of the public school that Miller’s group had not even rented.
Hence my use of the word “technically.” Even if it was a private event - and I don’t think it qualifies as one - it’s a nitpick as far as I’m concerned.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detention-of-reporter-kosher-or-not/557672/20 "2010-10-19T17:55:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Hence my use of the word “technically.” Even if it was a private event - and I don’t think it qualifies as one - it’s a nitpick as far as I’m concerned.
A nitpick perhaps - but it is the only “nit” that a skilled defense attorney (see **Bricker** , above) would have a hope of using in a wrongful detention lawsuit.
That’s why I am at pains to point out that attempting to bill the event as “private” is a non-functional defense.
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