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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/New-Haven-police-confirm-chief-ordered-probe-into-11320620.php\nNew Haven police confirm chief ordered probe into reporter’s arrest\nPublished 6:31 pm EST, Tuesday, December 20, 2016\nNEW HAVEN >> Interim Police Chief Anthony Campbell ordered an internal affairs investigation into the arrest of a reporter earlier this month.\nAccording to court records, New Haven Independent reporter David Sepulveda was arrested Dec. 6 and charged with trespassing and interfering with an investigation after police alleged he got too close to an investigation scene.\nPolice were investigating two pressure cookers that were left on the sidewalk outside the Mitchell Branch Library on Whalley Avenue. It was later determined the devices were not dangerous.\nAccording to his legal counsel, Sepulveda did not make a plea during his court appearance Monday and the case is scheduled to continue Jan. 19.\nNew Haven Independent Editor Paul Bass wrote a column last week sharing two accounts of what happened that night: that of the police and that of Sepulveda, who said he was just doing his job.\nDaniel J. Klau, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, said he was especially concerned with Bass’ claim that a police supervisor on scene walked around with the reporter’s camera, which officers had taken upon arresting Sepulveda, and later asked the reporter for his memory card.\n“Police can secure a person’s belongings when they are arrested, but to hear about a supervisor walking up and down the sidewalk with the camera strapped on her shoulder, and then ask for the memory card, that’s totally inappropriate,” Klau said.\nBass recorded an interview with two officers on the scene that night in which they defended the arrest.\n“His job is not to be endangering himself and other officers while they’re trying to do their job,” one officer said on video.\n“He was told to stay away,” the other officer told Bass.\nWhen Bass asked the officers on video why they felt the need to arrest the reporter instead of just escorting him away from the scene, one of the officers responded “It doesn’t work like that.”\nIn his column, Bass said he was on the scene and police had not blocked off Fountain Street with police tape in the area where the reporter entered the scene.\nCCFOI released a statement Monday urging the Police Department to evaluate its handling of the incident and to publicly affirm its commitment to protecting First Amendment rights.\n“The police allege that the reporter had violated a perimeter around a potential crime scene, but no police tape or other barriers had been erected,” the organization said in the statement. “The police have a difficult job to do. They protect the public under difficult circumstances and often a great personal risk, for which we owe them our gratitude. However, the First Amendment protects the right of all persons, journalists included, to take photographs of police officers performing their duties in public settings, as long as the journalists do not interfere with the crime scene or the officers’ work.”\nCampbell said he made the decision Monday morning to order an internal affairs investigation of the incident.\nConnecticut lawmakers passed legislation in 2015 clarifying that the public has a First Amendment right to photograph and record police officers and if police want to stop the person from doing so, they need to cite a specific reason — such as preserving the integrity of a crime scene or protecting crime victims’ privacy — or they can be sued.\nKlau said that while most departments in the state have done well in adapting to the digital age, there still are cases like Sepulveda’s happening across the country.\nIn 2011, an internal affairs investigator concluded former New Haven Assistant Police Chief Ariel Melendez violated department rules when he ordered the arrest of a bystander filming police breaking up a fight downtown. Melendez also took the man’s phone and ordered subordinates to delete the video.\nThe Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists on Friday issued a statement in response to the arrest, saying the organization was disappointed in the decision by the New Haven Police Department to arrest a working journalist.\n“We recognize that police have legitimate concerns when setting a perimeter around a scene and urge journalists to respect those boundaries, but an arrest is extreme when less draconian remedies would have sufficed,” the organization said in the statement. “Additionally, we are concerned by officers’ attempts to seize the memory card from a reporter’s camera, especially in light of New Haven Police Department’s historical failure to recognize the public’s First Amendment Right to record police.”\nNew Haven Register Insider Thumbnail Collection\nMilford office complex has new owner, major face lift planned\nBY Luther Turmelle\nNew Haven plans Holocaust Memorial service on Sunday\nGulf Oil fined for not adhering to response plan in New Haven...\nBY Mary E. O’Leary\nEast Haven’s 1.37% grand list increase is town’s largest...\nBY Mark Zaretsky"